Cowboy Strong - Includes a bonus novella

by Carolyn Brown

  “I don’t have much appetite,” Matt told her. “Iris is coming over, and we plan to sit back and supervise this evening, so I don’t need a lot of energy to do that. You don’t worry about me, darlin’. I’ve accepted things and I’m ready. Everything I wanted, other than getting to know my grandkids, is happening. I told Pax already, but I haven’t told you. The funeral arrangements are taken care of, so you don’t have to worry about decisions like that when the time comes. And I’ve talked to the lawyers. The minute the preacher pronounces you man and wife, the Bar C becomes y’all’s joint property. Iris and I had a long talk after dinner on Sunday. She’s having papers done up to give Maverick full ownership of the Callahan Ranch. Everything is working out perfectly.”

  Alana’s chest tightened and the room did a couple of spins. She felt everything going dark and her body slipping out of the chair, then the phone rang and the noise jerked her back from the abyss.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Matt was saying. “Tell the boys that we’ll meet them there in half an hour. I’ve ordered pizza and beer to be delivered at five-thirty, and they get double pay for working overtime on this for us.”

  Alana had never fainted before in her life, but if the pain in her arms and the throbbing ache in her head were symptoms, she didn’t want to do it again. “What was that all about?” she asked.

  “The hired hands are going to help us with the barn business,” Matt explained. “You’re a little pale, honey. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, Daddy,” she assured him. He damn sure didn’t need to be worrying about her. “I almost dozed off and almost fell out of this chair.”

  “Well, dammit! I thought maybe you were pregnant,” he teased. “Your mama fainted a few times when she was first expecting you.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you.” She had mixed feelings about the idea of being pregnant. Would she be sad or happy if it had happened that one time they hadn’t used protection? And what would that mean for their future? “I haven’t been sleeping well, and all this books stuff bores me. I dozed off there for a minute.”

  What had started off as a simple ceremony so her father could walk her down the aisle had snowballed into a huge nightmare. Iris might be waiting to draw up her papers until everything settled, but not her father. He had to have things signed, sealed, and delivered before he went to his grave. She hated herself for thinking such a thing, but it would probably be best if he went on to heaven before the wedding. Then she could simply postpone it because of his passing, and it would never come about at all.

  Her chest tightened again, this time with guilt for even letting such a horrible thought filter through her mind. Everything around her spun at warp speed for half a second before it settled down.

  Forgive me, she sent up a silent prayer. Don’t take him from me before you have to.

  “I reckon we could go on down to the barn and kind of get an idea about the lay of things,” Matt said. “We’ll get us a cold beer on the way through the kitchen. Pizza sounds good to me so I’ll eat good tonight. This brain booger messes with my taste buds. Not much of anything tastes like it should anymore.”

  “Well, then”—Alana stood up slowly—“you decide what you want from now on, and I’ll either make it or send out for it.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me. Reckon you could whip up some western breakfast burritos in the morning? Spicy stuff is what sounds best.” He settled his cowboy hat on his head. “We’ll take the farm truck and you can drive.”

  “Burritos it is.” She grabbed the keys from one of the hooks by the back door as they passed by. “Do you really think five hundred people will be at this wedding, Daddy?”

  “Have no idea, but my motto is: Be prepared.” He crossed the backyard, opened the gate, and went right to the twenty-year-old work truck. “If they don’t eat up all the food, then we’ll send it home with whoever wants it, or the hired hands can take it out to the bunkhouse and freeze it for later use. It won’t go to waste, that’s for sure.”

  Given a choice, Alana wouldn’t have wanted to talk about entering data into a computer for days, or discussing what to do with the leftovers from the wedding. There wasn’t a single conversation that she wanted to have with her father right then. All she wanted to do was sit with him and drink in every single breath he took, and see him smile that smile, which made his eyes twinkle. She wanted memories to hang on to when he’d taken that first step into eternity.

  She parked the truck in front of the sale barn and got out. Matt was halfway to the barn when he passed Pax coming to meet her. They exchanged a few words that she couldn’t hear, and Matt kept going. Was he walking slower, or was it her imagination? She was still trying to figure that out when Pax picked her up and swung her around several times.

  “I missed you this week,” he said before he set her down, tipped up her chin, and kissed her—long, hard, and with lots of passion.

  “Me too,” she admitted. “It’s getting real, Pax. Are we really getting married in two weeks and two days?”

  “Looks like it.” He took her by the hand and led her toward the barn. “How much longer can we keep Matt’s condition under wraps? He seems to have lost more weight since Sunday. His jeans are hanging on him.”

  “He’s got to be the one to decide when to tell people,” she whispered as they entered the huge building. Right now there were three tractors parked inside, and the floor was covered with loose hay that had fallen out of the small bales that had been stored in there. Alana couldn’t remember when she hadn’t helped her dad take care of the annual fall sale in that very place. On sale days, the bleachers and balconies always looked like a sea of cowboy hats. The cattle were brought in from the back door and the bidding wars began. Even the culls from the Bar C stock were coveted by ranchers—local, national, and some even international.

  She took a deep breath, sucking in the smell of the hay and imagining the fast-talking auctioneer standing with his gavel up behind the old wooden lectern on the stage.

  “Oh. My. Goodness.” Crystal, the wedding planner, came out from the shadows and clapped her hands. “Man, this is one big space. It’s going to be gorgeous.” She gushed. “We can have the guests sit in the bleachers and the balconies, reserving the best seats for the family of course. We can put filmy curtains of tulle up around the tables to set them off from the actual ceremony staging. I can’t wait to see how it’s all going to look.”

  “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight,” Alana said, “but welcome to the sale barn. I’m glad you see possibilities.”

  “Oh, honey.” Crystal almost swooned. “I’ll gladly take twenty percent off the total tab if you’ll let me use the pictures on my website, and if you’ll grant me exclusive rights to have other weddings here.”

  “Yes, we will do both.” Matt walked up beside her. “I wanted to introduce you around, Crystal. This is Iris, Pax’s grandmother. And this is his brother, Maverick; his wife, Bridget; and their daughter, Laela.”

  “Pleased to meet all of you.” Crystal’s eyes were darting from one place to the other like a little kid in a candy store who had no limits on what she could spend. “So this lovely baby will be your new niece, Alana?”

  “That’s right.” Alana hadn’t thought of what all marrying Pax would bring into her life. A brother-in-law, a niece, a sister-in-law, and a grandmother. She loved Laela, but the idea of having Iris as her grandmother? Well, that might be the very thing that prevented her from divorcing Pax.

  “We have to remember to tell the photographer we want a picture of the bride and groom with the baby. That’s always such a sweet shot,” Crystal said. “What do you think of putting white stadium chairs on the bleachers for the guests?”

  “Might keep them from getting splinters in their butts,” Iris said. “Got any that are engraved with a C on the back? That would be really nice.”

  Crystal made a note. “I’ll check and see about that. If not, maybe wedding bells—better yet, a lucky horseshoe.
”

  Pax pulled at Alana’s hand. “Let’s go move a tractor.”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Where are y’all goin’?” Iris asked.

  “Thought maybe we’d drive a tractor out of the barn so Crystal could see how big this place is, and the guys could get busy cleaning the stalls out,” Alana answered.

  “The hired hands will do all that.” Matt pointed toward a table with a few chairs scattered around it. “Y’all sit down with Crystal and go over what she’s planned. She and I’ve been talkin’ every day, but this is your wedding, Alana Joy, and I want it to be perfect.”

  “Well, dammit!” Alana sighed. “I haven’t seen Pax all week. We were going to make out a little bit.”

  “You can do that after we get done here tonight,” Matt chuckled. “I’m not playing poker until the wedding is over, so you can even have the tack room for some privacy.” He winked at her.

  “And no curfew?” she teased.

  “How about daylight?” Matt answered. “Now go on over there and sit down. Time is getting short, and there’s lots to do. Me and Iris here have some things that we need to discuss, and y’all need to hear Crystal’s plans.”

  Alana would far rather have heard what her father and Iris were talking about, but she and Pax followed Crystal over to the table. The woman quickly opened her case and began to show them pictures.

  “This is going to be the most unusual wedding I’ve done yet. Let’s start with the corsages and boutonnières that the florist has made as samples.” She laid out three separate eight-by-ten color photographs.

  Alana studied the first one and handed it to Pax. “What do you think?”

  “Honey, I’m the groom. My job is to say my vows without stuttering and make you happy,” he answered. “All three of those are nice, but that last one is downright cheesy.”

  Alana patted him on the cheek. “Thank you. I thought the same thing. I like this one best.” She handed Crystal the picture. “Remember, I said to keep it simple. Now what’s next?”

  Crystal made a big green check mark on the back of the chosen picture and laid the other two aside. Then she brought out three more—this time of centerpieces. Without even handing one off to Pax, Alana picked up the middle one and gave it back to her. “I like the Mason jar idea better than that fancy crystal vase. Add a yellow ribbon around the neck and that’s perfect.”

  Pax took her free hand in his and laid it on his thigh. “Maverick and I used to pick wildflowers and bring them to Mam. She’d put them in Mason jars.”

  “Mama did the same thing when I brought her bouquets from the pasture,” Alana said.

  “Now tablecloths,” Crystal said. “I brought fabric swatches. Here’s the configuration that I’ve come up with for the round tables. So try to picture that many covered with whatever color you choose.”

  Alana spent all of two minutes looking at the various shades of yellow before she chose one. “I like the idea of setting the tables and reception area apart from the actual wedding. This soft yellow should be pretty behind the filmy tulle you mentioned earlier.”

  “I agree,” Crystal sighed. “I believe that’s all for now, but we’ll need to meet again next week to fine-tune everything, especially with the rehearsal dinner.”

  “I’ll be taking care of that.” Iris walked up behind her. “You kids go on now. We’ve kept you long enough. We’ll have the rehearsal dinner in the fellowship hall at the church so all your wedding party can see your gifts. Go on, now, get on with your making-out session. Matt and I’ve agreed that neither of us would be disappointed if the first child was one of those jet airplane babies.”

  “What kind of baby?” Alana blushed.

  “Jet airplanes that bring them faster than nine months,” Matt chuckled. “All the rest in the marriage will take the full time, but the first one can come along in seven or eight months with no problem because they’re ridin’ on a jet airplane.”

  Alana blushed again. “Daddy!”

  “Mam!” Pax shook his finger at his grandmother.

  “Hey, the pizza is here,” Matt said. “Y’all pick up one and take it with you to the tack room. There’s beer in the fridge. I put it in there yesterday.”

  “Thanks, Daddy,” Alana kissed him on the forehead and turned to Pax. “Let’s get out of here before they embarrass me again.”

  * * *

  Pax drove them from the larger sale barn on one side of the ranch to the smaller one all the way to the other side. He hadn’t eaten since noon, and the smell of the pizza in the backseat made his stomach grumble.

  “I’m starving too.” Alana laid a hand on her stomach. “I keep thinking that I’ll wake up and all this will have been a bad dream. Daddy will be fine, and you and I will still be dancing around the attraction we have had…whatever...for each other.”

  “Speaking of that attraction business.” Pax parked the truck and turned to face her. “It’s definitely still there and stronger than it’s ever been. I really, really like you, Alana, and I’ve loved spending time with you.”

  She hesitated so long that his hands started to sweat, and his heart was on the way to his toes. “I like you too, but what do we do about all this, Pax? It was supposed to be until…well, you know.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t get in a hurry about a divorce,” he said.

  “Maybe we could put it off for a little while,” she agreed. “Until I can get my bearings.”

  He picked up her hand and kissed the knuckles. “I’d like that a lot.”

  “Okay, then.” She locked gazes with him. “It’s complicated, but then so is everything else that’s going on around us right now.”

  He leaned slightly and pressed his lips against hers. “If I wasn’t so damned hungry, I’d stay out here and make out with you until daylight.”

  “If I wasn’t about to succumb to hunger, I might do more than make out.” She got out of the truck and went on ahead. “You bring the pizza. I’ll have the beers ready when you get there.”

  She was sitting on the futon when he came through the doors with the flat pizza box in his hand. He set it down on the coffee table where the beers were already waiting, and opened it up. “Meat lovers,” he groaned. “My favorite.”

  “Daddy’s too. He probably ordered an assortment with a couple of extra-large meat lovers included.” She picked up a slice and bit into it. “God, this tastes good.”

  Pax did the same and moaned his appreciation. “Maybe we should’ve had a pizza bar at the wedding reception.”

  “It’s not too late,” she said between bites. “Maybe we’ll have some delivered to our room at the honeymoon hotel that first night.”

  Pax nodded as he chewed and then washed the bite down with a sip of beer. “I’m so glad that we met up at Mam’s last winter and started talking.”

  “Me too,” she told him. “But moving past what did happen and looking forward. We’re going to have some arguments, you know.”

  “Yep, and that might involve make-up sex, right?” he asked.

  “You’ve got a wicked twinkle in your eye, Mr. Callahan,” she said.

  “I’m talkin’ about what I’ve heard from the guys.” He shrugged. “I’ve never been with anyone long enough to have arguments and then make-up sex.”

  “Bullshit!” She almost choked on a mouthful of pizza.

  “Truth.” He held up his right hand. “I’ve always been a one-night-stand kind of guy. Commitment has always scared the hell out of me.”

  “Got to admit, I have dated, but it kind of scared me too,” she said.

  “By the way, do you kiss on the first date?” he joked.

  “Not usually, but I’ve had the hots for you for a very long time, so I guess a few kisses wouldn’t hurt,” she shot back at him.

  Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips when he moved closer to her. That tiny little motion created a stir behind his zipper. When his lips met hers, she groaned and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her finger
s tangled up in his hair, and the kisses got deeper and deeper until neither of them could breathe.

  “We didn’t fight, so this can’t be make-up sex,” she panted as she took off her shirt and tossed it on the other side of the coffee table.

  He started to unbutton his shirt. “If make-up sex is hotter than this, I’m not sure I can stand it.”

  She brushed his hands away and unfastened every single button for him. She unzipped his jeans and tugged them and his boots off in one fell swoop.

  The first round was over way too quick to suit Pax. “That was only the warm-up,” he said as he rolled to the side and drew her close to his body. “Are you ready for the real thing?”

  “Bring it on, big boy,” she teased.

  To begin the second round, they took the time to explore each other’s bodies, their hands finding all kinds of sweet spots that made the other one groan. Then when they actually did make love, it lasted long enough to leave them totally exhausted.

  “Amazing,” she said.

  “Awesome,” he managed.

  She snuggled down onto his shoulder and promptly fell asleep. He stared his fill of her—long lashes fanned out on high cheekbones, a full mouth made for kissing, blond hair all messy, and a naked body made to fit right next to his. This game they were playing might turn into something wonderful, given time.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Alana woke up feeling grumpy on Friday morning, but then she and Pax hadn’t left the tack room until 3:00 a.m. Sure, she’d slept after they’d had sex, or was it after they’d made love? Then her stomach lurched, and she barely grabbed the trash can beside her bed in time.

  “Must’ve been some bad sausage on the pizza,” she muttered as she rinsed her mouth and brushed her teeth.

  When she got to the kitchen, she found a note on the table from her father saying that he and Lucas had gone to the cattle sale in Amarillo and not to expect them home until suppertime. She opened the refrigerator, took out the milk, and grabbed a box of Lucky Charms. She’d eaten only a few spoonfuls when she felt her stomach begin to disagree with her choice of breakfast, and this time she barely made it to the bathroom.