Her Cowboy Lawman

by Pamela Britton

  And then they were on-screen, she and Bren, and at first she couldn’t quite believe her eyes.

  “It’s you!” Kyle was once again her little boy, evidently forgetting his disgust with the kissing game, because he bounced up and down in his seat, eyes bright with excitement.

  The heart appeared. Lauren looked up at Bren, her eyes clearly telling him, No.

  Why he ignored the silent message she had no idea, but she knew he was going to. There was heat in his eyes, and this time when his gaze landed on her lips, her entire body stiffened.

  “Don’t you dare,” she warned.

  “Oh, I dare,” he answered back.

  And then he kissed her. Not harshly or even quickly, but slowly and softly and oh so sweetly that it reminded her of what it was like to be cherished and loved and cared for by a man.

  She wanted to cry.

  It was the kindest, most gentle of kisses and she could smell him and taste him and she wanted more. Damn it. She wanted more.

  Bren increased the pressure and for just a moment she wondered what would happen if she opened her mouth, if she let him kiss her like she wanted to be kissed because, yes, damn it, she liked how he made her feel. Wanted to do something crazy and out of control...with him.

  He pulled back. She stared up at him in shock. He had the same stunned expression on his face.

  “You kissed my mom.”

  Lauren’s gaze shot to Kyle. He stared at them both in horror, but then a funny thing happened to the dismay in his eyes. The horror turned to fascination and then to acceptance and then even to delight.

  “You like my mom,” he announced, his frown turning to a smile as he leaned back, crossed his arms behind his head and turned his attention back to bull riding. “Cool.”

  * * *

  SHE BARELY LOOKED at him the rest of the night.

  He shouldn’t have been surprised. He should have been relieved. A momentary lapse of judgment. A toe dipped in a pool. He’d discovered the water was hot.

  He wanted to dive in.

  The crowd cheered. The cowboy down below in the arena stuck to his bull like a flea on a dog. He watched, barely paying attention as the clock ticked. Two seconds. Three seconds. He shouldn’t have kissed her. Four seconds. But he didn’t regret it. Five seconds. Six seconds. The last thought worried him the most. Eight seconds.

  Kyle jumped up.

  It was only as he caught a glimpse of the look on Kyle’s face that he realized who it was that rode. Trent.

  “He did it!” Kyle cried.

  Yes. His friend had done it. And so had he, but he didn’t care. That was the most shocking thing of all. He didn’t care that tongues would wag and people would gawk if he dated someone at least ten years younger than himself. He liked her. And there was something there, something he couldn’t explain and that he wanted to explore. If the people of Via Del Caballo were that small-minded, maybe it was time he moved on.

  “Can we go down and see him?”

  He glanced at Lauren, but she still wouldn’t look at him. He would have to do something about that. She’d been working so hard lately. He doubted she’d had a break. He’d like to remind her that there was more to life than getting good grades and working your fingers to the bone.

  “Sure, why not.” Kyle fist-pumped the air.

  They had to wait for one more competitor, but it was a short ride. Trent was the only one to cover his bull, and Bren couldn’t help but beam with pride. There’d been a time when they weren’t even sure Trent would ride again. If it hadn’t been for Saedra, a barrel-racing friend from his rodeo days, forcing him into therapy, who knew what might have happened. That’s where he’d met Alana, his wife. And now look. Two kids and winning again.

  “Ready?” He stood. So did everyone else around them, Kyle rushing into the aisle.

  “Kyle!”

  The kid paused, shoulder slumping. Lauren got bumped by someone in the crowd and, automatically, his hands landed on her waist to steady her. He felt her tense, but he didn’t let her go. She was warm to the touch and he caught a whiff of her—orange blossoms—and it was all he could do not to pull her up against him because she smelled so damn good.

  “Come on. Come on.” Kyle did a little jig. “We’re going to miss seeing him.”

  “No, we won’t.” He watched as Lauren rushed forward to catch Kyle’s hands. Clearly didn’t want to be near him. Just as clearly, he knew she felt the same connection he did. She just didn’t want to admit it.

  They made it to the main foyer, Kyle sticking close to his mom as they retraced their steps. Their passes would get them to the arena floor and Kyle could barely contain his excitement when he realized he’d get to stand on the edge of the winner’s circle and watch Trent get his prize check. It was all Lauren could do to keep him from bolting through the security checkpoint. Somehow he managed to wedge his way through the crowd, dragging his mom along, until he stood at the perimeter, halting only when he was right in front.

  “Well, looks who’s here.”

  He almost didn’t recognize the voice, nor the dark-haired woman who stared up at him. The blue eyes, though, he recognized those. Alana Anderson. Trent’s wife. He hadn’t seen her since the birth of her first child, but she hadn’t changed at all in the years he’d known her.

  “Alana.” He pulled her to him and hugged her, drawing back with a smile. “I was wondering where you’ve been hiding.”

  Her grin was so big it rivaled the one on her husband’s face. “And I was wondering where you ran off to. Trent said he saw you earlier.”

  “He did. I had to introduce him to a friend.”

  Her gaze ducked past him, searching for that guest, no doubt. Her smile widened when she spotted Lauren. “Is that her? Is that your girlfriend?”

  Bren drew back. So did Lauren, who was quick to shout over the din of the crowd, “I’m not his girlfriend.”

  “She’s just a friend,” he quickly said to assuage her embarrassment. “And this is her son.” He motioned Kyle forward. “The future bull rider.”

  Alana bent down so she could shake Kyle’s hand. “Nice to meet you, young man. Trent tells me you’re riding steers right now.”

  “I am.” Kyle glanced up at her proudly. “I’m too young to ride bulls.”

  “Don’t sound so disappointed.” She laughed a little, meeting Lauren’s gaze. “I’m sure you’ll be riding bulls soon enough.”

  The two women exchanged glances and it wasn’t hard to understand what they said to each other so silently. Alana had just had her and Trent’s second child. A boy they’d named Justin after a mutual friend who’d died in the accident that had injured Trent. In this day and age of father-son rodeo performers, there was a good chance Justin would ride some day, and so she had to be feeling some of the same concerns that Lauren did. Bren could see it in her eyes.

  “I have a competition next weekend.” Kyle’s eyes were as bright as the light above the arena. “You should come watch.”

  “Kyle,” Lauren laughed, pulling her son up against the front of her legs. “I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have better things to do than drive two hours to Norco.”

  “Actually, we were spending some time touring Southern California.” She smiled at him again, her dark hair coiling over one shoulder. “It’s so rare that we get away from the kids these days, we thought we’d spend a few days at the coast before Trent’s next performance in Las Vegas.”

  “Does that mean you’ll come?”

  Kyle looked like he’d died and gone to heaven. It made Bren’s heart swell with something—what, he couldn’t quite say. The kids was so obviously a fan of Trent’s, and a fan of the sport, it filled him with as much pride as if he were his own kid.

  “We might. Let’s ask Trent.”

  They all glan
ced in the man’s direction. He was just wrapping up his interview, one of those huge checks in front of him, and Bren whistled when he glimpsed the amount. Good payday. His friend’s eyes caught on his wife and he smiled and motioned her forward. They hugged and exchanged a big kiss while cameras flashed and in their eyes Bren saw something so precious and rare that it made him doubt his long-held belief that love was just for fairy tales. It was why he’d been single for so long. Why he planned to stay single. Not everyone could have what Trent had.

  “Kyle, come on over,” Trent called.

  Kyle’s fantasy day reached a whole new level. With Lauren watching, her son took picture after picture in the winner’s circle. Bren vowed to do something special for his friends because he honestly didn’t think they could be more kind to the little boy.

  “Mom!” Kyle ran over to them once the crowd started breaking up. “Trent said he’d come to my rodeo next week. He said after the rodeo we can all drive to Bren’s place afterward and do dinner.”

  “Dinner? Afterward?” Clearly Lauren didn’t know what to say. Just as clearly she didn’t want to disappoint her son. “I mean...that’s a lot of driving.”

  “Actually, we’ll be in that area anyway. And we were planning on heading back to Bren’s place. It’s been a long time since we’ve spent some time with him,” Alana said.

  “Yeah, but I’m sure you’re busy,” Lauren said.

  Trent came up to them. “Never too busy to see a friend. And it’s been forever since I’ve watched a junior bull riding.” He glanced at Bren. “Why not make a whole weekend out of it?”

  “Steer riding,” Lauren quickly corrected.

  “For now,” Trent said with a smile.

  Bren watched as Lauren looked down at her son. He wanted to go to her then for some reason. To reassure her. Instead he said, “It’ll be fun.”

  She pulled herself together quickly. “Well, I—”

  “So it’s a plan,” Alana said. “Rodeo and then dinner afterward.”

  She wanted to wiggle out of it, but it hit him then that he didn’t want her to. That he wanted to spend more time with her and maybe see if that kiss they’d shared was just a fluke.

  “I’ll text you directions to the rodeo grounds.” Bren took the decision out of her hands.

  “Cool!” Kyle cried.

  Chapter Nine

  Kyle fell asleep the moment he tipped his seat back, which was just fine with Lauren because it gave her time to reflect.

  That kiss...

  Okay, so she didn’t want to reflect too deeply on that. She’d rather focus instead on Kyle and how happy he’d been—the happiest she’d seen him in years. He’d told her just before they’d climbed in her car that this was the best night of his life. She had no doubt that it probably was, and she had Bren to thank for it.

  It was just after ten and once she took the exit to Via Del Caballo, it was darker than an empty closet beyond her headlights. That was one of the things she’d had to get used to living way out in the country. No more streetlamps. Just the moon and stars and the occasional porch light off in the distance.

  Her brother’s place, though, that was lit up like a Christmas tree. He had a thing about lights. Always insisted he could see the perimeter of his property. Military thing, she surmised. She could see it from the road, although it was nearly a mile to the actual home. She crossed between two iron posts, stopping beneath a sign suspended across them that said DHR. She could never remember the gate code, had to look it up on her phone—it would drive her security-conscious brother crazy if he knew she had it stored there. Off to her left she could make out Reynolds Ranch. The Reynoldses had been the original owners of the land.

  “We home?” said her sleepy little boy when she drove forward again.

  “Almost.”

  Kyle didn’t answer. Sensory overload, she thought with a smile. He’d be talking about this trip for days, probably weeks and months. Her smile faded. And she’d be thinking about it for weeks and months, too. Thinking about that kiss.

  Nope. Don’t go there.

  Bull riding. She firmly changed the subject in her mind. Why did it have to be bull riding? She didn’t think she’d survive him riding steers. Pray to the Lord he got tired of it before he graduated to the real deal. She pulled to a stop in front of her place and then as quietly as she could climbed out.

  “Did you have fun?”

  She about jumped out of her boots. Her brother parted from the shadows like the Invisible Man.

  “How do you do that?”

  She saw his shadow shrug. “Training.”

  “It’s kind of creepy.”

  “It’s who I am.”

  And it had been Paul, too. That required another change of subject. “Kyle had a great time.” But then she frowned. “Although it would have been better if you’d been there. What happened to you? Bren said something came up?”

  “Work,” he said softly. “Always work.”

  She could see his face thanks to ambient light spilling toward them from the porch. She could tell by looking at his face that it was another one of those nights. Restless. Anxious. Exhausted. Her brother suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. She’d realized it once she’d moved in last month. It’d provided an important clue as to why he’d built his home so far off the beaten path and why he’d built a multimillion-dollar ranch. He was looking for peace as much as the people he hoped to help.

  “I thought you were taking it easy these days.”

  “That’s what I thought, too.”

  Supposedly he’d turned over control of Darkhorse Tactical Solutions to his second-in-command, but not that she could see. Between building the house and working from home, he never seemed to get much rest. Particularly at night, ostensibly because a lot of his business was overseas, which required middle-of-the-night phone calls.

  “Need some help?” he asked, having spotted Kyle asleep inside the car.

  “Sure. You can grab him while I open the front door.”

  She was worried about her brother, especially after he’d bailed tonight. Something was up. She’d barely seen him over the last dozen or so years, not even at company parties when Paul had worked for him, but the more time she spent with him, the more she could tell something was wrong, something that not even spending two million dollars on a new ranch could cure.

  “Come on here,” he gently told Kyle as he pulled him into his arms.

  “’Cle Jax,” Kyle slurred, his little arms wrapping around his uncle’s neck. Jax hadn’t been around a whole lot while Kyle had been growing up, but they’d made up for lost time in the past few weeks. Her son adored her brother, and he should. She had a feeling Jax had built the ranch not just for himself, but for her son, too. He’d known how much Kyle had wanted to learn how to ride. How he’d dreamed of becoming a cowboy. And look. Here they were.

  “Go on and get his bed ready,” he told her.

  She raced ahead, leaving the front door open. As she pulled back Kyle’s covers, she had to admit, it was wonderful to have some help. To know that she had a roof over head—no matter what—and that her brother didn’t mind her being there at all. It wasn’t until that exact moment that it truly sank in—she wasn’t alone any longer.

  An image of Bren laughing with Kyle popped into her head.

  No. He wasn’t a part of the picture. Her brother was here to help, although why the realization hit her on this night, she had no idea, but suddenly she was so incredibly grateful she wanted to cry.

  “I got this,” she said to Jax when he entered the bedroom, not looking him in the eyes for fear he’d see her tears. She pulled off Kyle’s boots, shooting him a small smile as he moaned in his sleep. He smiled, too, and she knew it was a happy smile. She made quick work of getting Kyle ready for bed. Her kid hardly
batted an eye, just rolled over. She tugged the covers up over his shoulder, gave him a kiss, a love so pure and deep flooding her soul she could barely breathe for a moment.

  “Did he get to meet Trent Anderson?” Jax asked the moment she came out into the hall.

  She closed the door softly behind her. “Trent and a score of other bull riders whose names I can’t remember.”

  “And how about you? Meet any celebrities that got you all excited?”

  She shook her head as she walked toward the main living area. “I just sat back and watched.”

  And had her heart stopped when she’d been kissed.

  No, she told herself yet again. Stop thinking about it. Now. It was just a game. A dare. It didn’t mean a thing.

  Yeah, but it made you feel something.

  She shook her head and focused on what she had to do before bed. The kitchen had a bar-level counter that separated it from the family room and Jax took a seat on one of the spinning stools. She poured herself some iced tea even though caffeine was the last thing she needed at this time of night.

  “Want some?”

  He shook his head. “You need to have more fun.”

  “Speaking of that, I’m going to have dinner at Bren’s house next week.”

  Her brother’s dark brows shot to his hairline. “Really.”

  “Stop.” She shook her head. “It’s not like that.”

  “No?”

  “Kyle invited Trent Anderson to come watch him ride next week and one thing led to another and we’re all having dinner after the Norco Junior Rodeo. You should come.”

  She saw his mouth tighten. “Maybe to the rodeo, but not promising dinner.”

  She should have figured as much. “Try. You could use a break.”

  “And you could use a night out on the town.”

  She about choked on a swallow of tea. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m serious. You’ve been here, what? Six weeks? All I’ve ever seen you do is study and look for work.”