The Christmas Cowboy: (Sweet Western Holiday Romance) (Rodeo Romance Book 1)

by Shanna Hatfield

  “How is he, Meg?” Kenzie suddenly asked as their conversation wound down. She didn’t have to say Tate’s name for Megan to know whom she meant.

  “He’s okay, Kenz, but he’s hurt and sad, and he really misses you,” Megan said honestly. If she could reach through the phone and shake Kenzie, she’d do it so fast the woman’s head would spin. She didn’t know what it would take to get her to believe Tate was innocent of any wrongdoing, especially since the girl wouldn’t listen to anything regarding the topic of Tate.

  “Oh.” Kenzie didn’t know what else to say. She assumed Tate would have a new girlfriend, forgetting all about her.

  “If you were inclined to call or send him a message, I think he’d be happy to hear from you.” Megan encouraged Kenzie to do the right thing. “If you don’t believe Tate, look up the police records. He really did have a restraining order taken out against that woman you saw. Huck and Cort were there when it happened.”

  “He did?” Kenzie asked, distracted by the word restraining order. Had anyone mentioned that detail before? So angry at the thought of Tate’s betrayal, she hadn’t really listened to a word anyone said in his defense.

  “Kenz, you really should give him a chance to explain everything before you lose out on a wonderful guy and the chance for true happiness,” Megan said then hung up the phone before Kenzie could offer any argument.

  Chewing her lip as she sat on her bed, trying to decide what to do, Kenzie didn’t like to think she let the bad experiences from her past cloud her ability to rationalize what really happened with Tate in Pendleton when she saw that woman kissing him.

  Finally, she typed a text message to the cowboy, thanking him for the flowers and candy, hitting send before she could change her mind.

  Kenzie went to sleep feeling better than she had for several weeks. The next morning, she checked her text messages before she even got out of bed, anxious to see if he replied.

  His name stood out in the list of many texts she’d received. Rather than give in to the desire to read his, she hurried through the rest of them, saving his for last.

  Not sure what to expect when she read his, the message gave her a moment of pause:

  You’re welcome. Safe travels.

  The fact that he sent her such a brief and impersonal message bothered her more than if he’d sent a lengthy plea to see or speak to her again. Where was his profession of undying love and devotion? What happened to her being the center of his world?

  Safe travels?

  What kind of response was that?

  Maybe he was over her. Maybe he was moving on. Maybe Megan didn’t know as much about Tate as she implied. Why did she really care what he thought, anyway?

  With a deep sigh, she shut down thoughts of Tate and shifted her focus to the day ahead.

  Several days later, Kenzie flew home, half-hoping she’d run into Tate along her travels. However, she realized he was probably at his ranch for a few weeks until the finals in December. She knew from discussions during the Round-Up he planned to travel to Las Vegas with Cort.

  The website she frequently checked for scores and news reported Tate was among those who’d be competing, along with Huck and Cort.

  After spending time catching up on mail and assuring her neighbors everything was fine, she went to the grocery store, ran a few errands, and returned to her apartment with nothing to do.

  Caught up on paperwork, she had no more out-of-town trips scheduled for the rest of the year, except for the annual corporate retreat in December. She wouldn’t report to work until mid-January when Dew launched their new year with a new catalog and product line.

  Restless, she decided to go for a drive. Kenzie found herself pulling up at Kent’s care facility. Clueless as to what compelled her to visit the elderly man, something had urged her to see him.

  No matter what happened between her and Tate, she really liked his father and enjoyed spending time with him.

  Softly knocking on his door, she was saddened when no one answered. Aware that Kent was a little hard of hearing, she knocked with more force and waited. Disappointed, she started back down the hall to leave. Suddenly, Kent rounded the corner from the dining area and looked at her with delighted surprise.

  “Kenzie, darlin’, what are you doing here?” Kent looped his arm around hers as he kissed her cheek.

  “I came to visit you.” Glad to see the old man, he looked as good as he had the last time she’d visited him in September.

  “Well, a visit from you calls for a celebration,” Kent said, leading the way to the dining room. He got them both a cup of tea and charmed the staff into bringing them a plate of cookies as they took a seat at a table by a sunny window overlooking the courtyard. “How are you, honey?”

  “I’m fine.” She mustered a smile while swallowing down tears. Tate looked so much like his dad, it made her heart hurt to see the old gent. The two Morgan men shared the same smile, the same jaw and chin, the same blue eyes, although Tate’s were much more intense than his father's eyes.

  In some bizarre way, though, seeing Kent made her feel better, too. “The question is how have you been? You have to fill me in on who you’ve terrorized around here since the last time I visited.”

  Kent snorted and slapped his leg, taking a sip of his tea before regaling Kenzie with a round of stories that made her laugh until her sides hurt.

  “Kent, you are too much. How did the folks here get along before you moved in?” Kenzie asked with a teasing smile.

  “I don’t know. It almost wears me out trying to keep them all on their toes.” A broad grin wreathed his face as he took another cookie. He asked Kenzie about her travels as well as her plans for Thanksgiving. Although he carefully avoided any mention of Tate, she would have eagerly gobbled up any information about him the old man offered.

  They visited a while longer before Kenzie decided Kent looked tired and offered to walk him back to his room. He shuffled along beside her, talking about some of the different residents on the way to his room.

  At his door, she gave him a kiss on his weathered cheek and patted his arm.

  “If you think you can stand my company, I’d like to come visit you again.” Kenzie offered him a saucy grin.

  “I’d sure like that, darlin’.” Kent placed his hand on her arm. “You’re like a breath of sweet, fresh air. I’d be happy to have you come anytime.”

  “It’s a date, then.” She let Kent know the next time she’d plan to see him.

  As she turned to go, he took her hand and squeezed it. His fingers, shaped so much like Tate’s, made her swallow hard as she gazed down at his gnarled hand. Moisture flooded her eyes as she looked up at him.

  “He misses you, honey. More than you know.” Kent went into his room and closed the door.

  Kenzie took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling a moment, waiting for the tears to clear from her eyes before walking out to her car.

  After returning home, she started baking treats for the holidays out of boredom. She rarely watched television, didn’t feel like reading, and had nothing better to do with her time. She stored the goodies in resealable bags and plastic containers, placing them all in the small freezer in her laundry room. Just before Christmas, she planned to take the treats out and share them with friends.

  In need of a distraction from her thoughts of Tate, she couldn’t find or create enough activities to keep her mind from lingering on him.

  Desperate, she left a few days later for Portland. Her plan had been to spend four days with her family for Thanksgiving, but now her trip was going to be closer to two weeks. She knew she could count on her twin sisters to keep her mind occupied with thoughts that didn’t involve one devastatingly gorgeous cowboy.

  Chapter Nine

  Kenzie tugged her suitcase off the luggage carousel, straightened her suit jacket, and tucked an errant curl behind her ear.

  Surrounded by cowboy hats everywhere she looked, she smiled. For nearly two weeks in December, Las Vega
s became a playground for people who spent the majority of their time ranching and farming for a living. When the rodeo finals rolled around each year, the city got a little bit country as hordes of cowboys arrived.

  She hurried toward the line for taxis and tried to keep from looking around in hopes of spying Tate or one of his friends. At the Pasco airport, as she arrived for her flight to Las Vegas, her eyes widened at the number of men wearing cowboy hats waiting in the security line.

  A quick scan over the crowd confirmed Tate wasn’t among them, filling her with an odd mix of disappointment and relief.

  A dimple-chinned cowboy tipped his hat and held the door for her, forcing her to concede most cowboys had nice manners, even if they couldn’t be trusted any farther than she could throw them.

  Kenzie slid into a taxi and couldn’t help but stare out the window as they drove down the strip. Despite the many trips she’d made to Las Vegas, the city never failed to make her gawk like a first-time tourist.

  After paying the driver and climbing out of the car at her hotel, she took just a few steps before another handsome cowboy held the hotel door for her and offered to carry her suitcase. She declined his help with her luggage, but thanked him with a smile, aware he watched her walk away.

  A tall woman dressed in heels and a business suit most likely wasn’t something people working on a ranch saw every day.

  Kenzie barely had time to set down her bag in her room when her phone rang. Quickly answering the call from one of her coworkers, she agreed to meet for dinner thirty minutes later.

  Thoughts of the week’s activities drew out her sigh.

  The president of Dew, grandson of the couple who started the company, was obsessed with all things western. Since he took over the company, the annual corporate retreat that always happened at the end of the year moved to Las Vegas so he could go to the rodeo and take his top staff along.

  Meetings, trainings, and brainstorming sessions were held for four days, starting early Tuesday morning with everything wrapping up Friday afternoon. The corporate staff and trainers attending the meetings knew the expectation was for them to show up in full-on business mode during the day.

  Evenings were open, but all of them had a standing invitation to sit in the corporate suite at the rodeo.

  Kenzie had avoided going in the past because watching the rodeo reminded her too much of her father, but she knew she had to go this year. It was impossible for her to be in town and not watch Tate ride.

  Loath to admit it, she was actually looking forward to seeing the rodeo again. Her parents brought her when she was twelve and she remembered it being an amazing experience.

  Hastily touching up her makeup and hair, Kenzie grabbed her purse and headed down to the hotel’s lobby to meet a few of her coworkers. The women greeted each other with hugs and friendly conversation then decided where to go for dinner and piled into a taxi.

  A delicious meal kept them lingering in the restaurant much longer than they planned. It was late when the group finally wandered outside to catch a cab.

  A sea of cowboy hats and boot-clad feet milled through the crowds on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Kenzie took a step in the direction of the waiting taxi and watched Tate walk by with a lovely redhead on his arm.

  Frantically ducking behind a potted plant, she remained unseen as she followed Tate’s progress down the sidewalk. She’d somehow forgotten how good he looked in a pair of blue jeans and boots. Heat climbed up her neck to her cheeks as her gaze lingered on his backside.

  “Good heavens, Kenzie! Do you know him?” her friend Michele asked, staring at Tate.

  “Yes,” Kenzie huffed, embarrassed as people around them looked from her to Tate’s departing form.

  “Well, why haven’t you mentioned him before?” Michele asked as they got in the taxi to return to their hotel.

  “There’s nothing to talk about.” Kenzie cut off her friend before she started asking more questions. Desperate to change the subject, she threw out a topic she knew would grab Michele’s attention. “Do you know what guest speaker is lined up for the luncheon Thursday? Mitch said he heard it was going to be Jack Canfield.”

  “No. The speaker Thursday is…” Michele launched into a discussion of the agenda for speakers, since she was on the planning committee.

  Kenzie didn’t run into Tate again during the day. At night, she donned her boots and jeans and joined her coworkers to cheer him on from their private suite. There was no way Tate would know she was there.

  During the team roping at Friday night’s performance, Kenzie excused herself to go to the restroom and ran into Mara and Katie Powell.

  “Kenzie!” Katie yelled, throwing her little arms around Kenzie’s legs, greeting her with a friendly smile. “What are you doing here? Are you here to see Tate? Will you watch my daddy ride?”

  “Katie, don’t overwhelm her with questions.” Mara hugged Kenzie and whispered in her ear. “He’s not been the same since you two broke up. He really misses you.”

  “So I’ve heard.” Kenzie recalled the bombshell redhead he’d been with the other evening and shook her head. “I saw for myself how much he misses me.”

  “What do you mean?” Mara gave Kenzie an odd look. She knew for a fact Tate hadn’t been on a single date or shown any interest in anyone other than Kenzie.

  “I saw him the other night with a very beautiful woman on his arm. He didn’t look like he was suffering too greatly.” Uncertain why she was telling this to Mara, she admittedly liked the entire Powell family the first time she met them.

  “Oh,” Mara finally managed to say. Surprised by this bit of news, she figured Tate probably had a good explanation for it. Besides, she couldn’t blame him for not wanting to be alone. Kenzie had left him high and dry back in September.

  “Will you guys be here until the bitter end?” Kenzie asked as Mara tried to keep an excited Katie from running off.

  “Until the very end. How about you?” Mara thought Kenzie looked sad and tired, not at all like the girl they’d met back in Santa Fe who was excited and full of life.

  “I fly out Sunday morning, so I guess I’ll probably be here.” It would take a natural disaster to keep her away at this point. Tate had a shot at coming out as the winner and Huck and Cort were both holding their own as well. She wanted to see if all three of them would place first.

  “There’s an empty seat if you want to join us,” Mara offered, as she started stepping away from Kenzie due to Katie’s insistent tugging on her hand. She told Kenzie what section to look in to find them.

  “Thanks for the offer. I might tomorrow night, but for now, I better stay with the group,” Kenzie said, quickly explaining about the corporate suite.

  “Well, if you get tired of sitting in the comfy seats with your own private TVs and catered food, you’re welcome to join us.” Mara grinned before walking off with Katie.

  Kenzie would have loved to sit with Mara and the kids, but she worried Tate or one of his friends would see her and she might end up having to deal with him face-to-face.

  If that happened, she couldn’t maintain her aloof demeanor. She certainly wasn’t prepared to make a scene in front of everyone and she had no doubt there would definitely be a scene if she saw Tate.

  At least she thought throwing her arms around him and kissing him until they both were breathless constituted a scene, because that is exactly what she could foresee happening.

  Every time she saw him ride, a mixture of awe and fear cast some sort of spell over her. The opportunity to watch him every night had effectively rendered her incapable of doing anything but thinking about his next ride and hoping he’d take the top score.

  As much as she’d tried to convince herself she didn’t care a thing about Tate, her heart kept telling her otherwise.

  ><><

  Tate watched wave after wave of humanity walk by the table where he sat at a Christmas vendor show, held in conjunction with the rodeo. He and a few other competitor
s were at a table along with a pretty girl serving as Miss Rodeo signing autographs.

  In the past week, Tate signed more autographs than he had in the previous years of his career. Although his hand cramped from writing his name so many times, he still had another hour to go before his shift ended.

  Tired of signing autographs and schmoozing fans, he was ready to be finished with the duty. Normally, he would have enjoyed visiting with people, but since today was the last day of the rodeo, the crowds were crazy as they filled the convention hall.

  He barely managed to keep from rolling his eyes when a couple of women Cort referred to as “flouncing floozies” stopped by the table and requested he add his autograph on their chests.

  Tate refused. Instead, he signed a photo for each of them and offered an impersonal smile as he sent them on their way.

  As they sauntered off in what he labeled man-hunting gear of short skirts and tacky boots with low-cut, too-tight shirts, Tate glanced up to see Kenzie and an older woman glaring at him. Kenzie’s eyes narrowed in disgust before she walked off.

  “Kenzie!” Tate called, coming to his feet as she tried to hurry away. Trapped behind the table by all the people waiting for autographs, Tate jumped over the top of it and pushed his way through the crowd until he caught Kenzie by the arm and grabbed her hand.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked when she swung around, branding him with a searing look.

  “Shopping,” she said brusquely. She held up a few bags in the hand that Tate hadn’t captured in his.

  “Not here at the show, I meant here in Vegas.” Tate noticed Kenzie’s friend giving him an approving glance.

  “Our corporate retreat is here this week.” Kenzie yanked her hand away from Tate. It took all her willpower not to wipe it on her jeans, as if she’d touched something filthy. Finally considering the idea that she may have been wrong about him calling him a cheating skunk, the sight of him with his adoring fans renewed her anger and her resolve to stay away from him. “Now if you’ll excuse us…”