Cowboy Strong - Includes a bonus novella

by Carolyn Brown

  “Yes, but I’ve got a question for both of you.” Bonnie nodded. “Y’all fell in love with someone and left, so evidently, it isn’t hard to move off the ranch. But do you have any regrets now that time has passed? Both of you could have been in love and still put off leaving until the year was up. You could have even spent a night away at a time now and then, like Shiloh did when Waylon was hurt. As long as you didn’t actually move away, both of you could have still been in for a share of the ranch.”

  “I don’t have a single regret,” Abby Joy answered without hesitation. “But then, I was in love with Cooper, and love trumps all the dirt in Texas in my books.”

  “I don’t have regrets either,” Shiloh said. “Both of you know, I was having doubts about staying on the ranch anyway. Following the terms of that will made me feel like Ezra had control over my life, and even if I had half ownership with you, Bonnie, it was”—she paused—“I can’t explain the feeling, but I can tell you that when I made up my mind to leave, it felt like the chains dropped off my heart. Like Abby Joy, I was in love with Waylon, so that had a bearing on it, I’m sure, but I was relieved that Ezra wasn’t running my life anymore.”

  “He really was an old sumbitch, wasn’t he?” Bonnie whispered. “Do you wonder why he made his will the way he did? Why would he even care if we ever knew each other? I mean”—she took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh—“I’m glad we have gotten acquainted, but why?”

  “Can’t answer that,” Abby Joy replied. “I’m glad I came to the funeral, and that y’all did too, but understanding why Ezra did anything he did is impossible, and I’ve tried.”

  “Me too.” Shiloh nodded.

  “Thanks for being honest.” Bonnie turned to look out the side window. She tried to imagine simply moving off the ranch and relinquishing all her rights to it to Rusty, but she didn’t want to leave him. They made a great team, and he needed her right now, here in the busy season.

  * * *

  Rusty knocked on the door of Cooper’s ranch house and then poked his head inside. “Where are y’all at?”

  “In the living room,” Cooper called out. “Come on in. The bareback bronc riding is about to begin. Bull riding comes after that.”

  Rusty carried a six-pack of cold beer through the kitchen and the foyer and into the living room where Cooper and Waylon were already stretched out in a couple of recliners. He twisted the top off two bottles and handed one to each of them. Then he sat down on the sofa, propped his boots on an oversize hassock, and uncapped a beer for himself.

  “Heard you didn’t close down the Sugar Shack last night,” Cooper said. “You sick or something?”

  “Nope, just got bored with it. Sandy was drunk.” Rusty took a long drink of his beer.

  “Sandy’s always drunk. Woman can’t hold her liquor any better than she can a boyfriend.” Waylon muted the commercial.

  “She’s clingy and thinks if you buy her a drink, you’re in love with her and about to propose.” Cooper nodded. “I told you not to ever get involved with her, Rusty.”

  “I didn’t, but I can’t convince her of that,” he groaned.

  Waylon hit the red button on the remote to turn the sound back on. “Damn, I wish I was still doin’ the rodeo rounds. I liked the sounds of the crowd, the thrill of the rides, all of it.”

  “Marriage changes a cowboy,” Cooper said.

  “Yep, it does,” Waylon agreed. “And when it comes down to the line, I’d rather be married as out there bustin’ up bones and spendin’ time in emergency rooms. Since I got that concussion a few weeks ago in the wreck, I’d be afraid to ride anyway. I don’t ever want to get to where I wouldn’t know Shiloh.”

  “Wait until you’ve got a baby comin’ along.” Cooper combed back his dark hair with his fingertips. “That really changes everything. I sure enough feel my responsibility to keep healthy. I’m not even running for sheriff next election. I’m just going to ranch.”

  The commercial ended and the bronc riding event started. All three guys yelled for their favorite contestant, who was trying to make it all the way to the National Professional Rodeo in Las Vegas in December.

  Rusty slumped down on the sofa and watched one event after another, but his thoughts wandered back to the Malloy Ranch. Cooper had inherited the Lucky Seven from his grandparents. Waylon had started off with a small spread and renamed it the Wildflower Ranch. Then the elderly lady next door to his place died and left him her small acreage. When he and Shiloh got married, she doubled the size of their acreage by buying the adjoining ranch to the south.

  Rusty loved living in the canyon. He’d put down roots at the Malloy Ranch. He finally belonged somewhere. About all he could do at this point was hope that when Bonnie sold the place, he was the high bidder and that a bank would back him.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning the window served as a picture frame for the most beautiful sunrise Bonnie had ever seen. She threw off the covers and stared out at the gorgeous sight for a long time before she finally got dressed and headed toward the kitchen. She was halfway down the hall when she got a whiff of cinnamon blended with the aroma of coffee.

  “Good mornin’,” Rusty said. “I made cinnamon toast for breakfast. Looks like we’re goin’ to have a good day to get the hay raked and baled.”

  Was this his new trick to get rid of her—be nice so she’d feel sorry for him and give him the ranch for a fraction of its price? Well, he was dead wrong, if that’s what he thought.

  “So this is how we’re going to play it, is it?” She poured a cup of coffee and carried it to the table.

  “Play what?” he asked. “I was hungry for cinnamon toast and we usually have breakfast together if we’re not fighting.”

  “I was afraid things would be awkward between us after the bombs on Saturday night,” she answered.

  “Why would things be weird?” Rusty set a whole cookie sheet full of cinnamon toast on the table and then poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat.

  His long legs brushed against hers under the table and heat spread through her body like she was standing next to a raging bonfire. He bowed his head to say grace. Lord have mercy! How was she supposed to keep a divine thought in her head while he said a short prayer with his leg touching hers?

  “Amen,” he said, “and now let’s eat and talk about why you think we should act any different than we did before. We’re consenting adults and we both had a bit to drink. Now we’re ranchers and we’ve got work to do.”

  No wonder Mama never remarried, Bonnie thought. Vivien’s words came back to her in a flash. Men are impossible to live with for any length of time. You just have a good time with ’em and then shove ’em out the door and go find another one. The thrill and excitement don’t last long. Ezra Malloy proved that to me, and I ain’t never forgot that lesson.

  Bonnie had heard that speech so many times when she and her mother were together that it was branded on her brain. She might not agree with her mama, but it had been a long time since she’d talked to her, so she made a mental note to give Vivien a call later that day.

  “I’m thinking about leaving. If you aren’t going to sell me the place when you inherit, I need to get some feelers out there for another job. Cooper already has a foreman, but he said he’d hire me as a hand, and so did Jackson.”

  “No! You can’t do that!” Bonnie gasped.

  “Yes, I can and yes, I will. No use in waiting around, and then bein’ jobless. Ranchers don’t need many hands in the dead of winter. It would be easier to get one now and get settled into a place by Christmas,” Rusty said.

  Bonnie laid her toast down and picked up her coffee. If Rusty left, she’d be lost. She’d learned a lot in the last six months, but sweet Jesus, she couldn’t run the ranch without him, not even with the summer help arriving in the next few days.

  “Please don’t do that,” she whispered.

  “I like you,” he said, “a lot. When y’all first arrived here, I could see
that you had spunk and determination. You’ve worked hard to learn this business. But with your decision to leave and sell out, it’s time for me to take my dogs and move on to another job.”

  Bonnie set her coffee down and shook her finger at him. “You’re not taking the dogs. They belong on this ranch.”

  “Those dogs were left to me in the will, so they’re mine,” Rusty told her. “Get serious. Whoever buys the place will bring in their own dogs, and they probably will fight with Vivien, Polly, and Martha. And, honey,” he dragged out the endearment to at least six syllables, “those dogs go with me. They’re mine.” He pushed back from the table. “I’m going out to the field to rake the hay. I’ll see you this evening.”

  “Will you be here tomorrow?” she asked.

  “Will you?” he shot over his shoulder as he settled his straw hat on his head and slammed the screen door.

  Vivien’s drunk voice popped into her head again. Men! Can’t live with ’em, and it’s against the law to shoot ’em.

  “Why is it against the law to shoot them?” Bonnie muttered as she picked up a second piece of toast. “We could have a season on them, say once every five years. One day only, women could buy a tag like when I hunted deer in Kentucky. Red tag could be shoot to kill for cheaters and beaters. Blue tag could be a grazing shot for drunks and—”

  Her mother’s special ring tone interrupted her. “Hello, Mama, I was going to call you after breakfast.”

  “Great minds and all that crap,” Vivien chuckled. “So how are things there? Looks like you’re going to own a ranch before too many months, don’t it?”

  “Not if I leave,” she said.

  “Holy smokin’ shit!” Vivien gasped. “You just made me spew coffee all over the table. You’ve beat both your half-sisters out for the ranch. You’d be a fool to give up now. You deserve that place after the way Ezra did me and you.”

  “I didn’t earn it, Mama, but if I’m honest with myself, Rusty really should have it. He put up with Ezra for years and took care of him when he was sick,” Bonnie said.

  “You did earn it. You’ve done without things other girls had, and you’ve had to work for everything you needed—and so did I,” Vivien told her.

  “Why’d you marry him?” Bonnie asked. “Did you love him? Was he charming? Did he make you feel good about yourself? What drew you two together?”

  There was a long silence before Vivien answered. “I was in one of my phases when I thought I wanted to live in the wilds. Ezra was not charming. He was crude and downright salty, but he had a ranch, and at that time I didn’t want to go back to Texas or Kentucky. I wanted to settle down and have a family, and Ezra wanted a son. I didn’t love him, but we tolerated each other fairly well until you were born. I never went back to the ranch after I gave birth to you. He packed up all my personal things and had them shipped back to where my mother was living at the time. I left the hospital with you in my arms, a bus ticket, and a checkbook with a deposit equal to the prenup agreement, which was ten thousand dollars.”

  “Did you know I had two half-sisters?” she asked.

  “Of course, I did,” Vivien sighed. “He never mentioned them, but that’s a small community down there in the canyon, so I knew.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Bonnie could feel anger rising up from her toes. “I had a right to know that, don’t you think?”

  “What good would it have done? I didn’t know where they were living or even what their names were,” Vivien answered. “And I damn sure didn’t want to know their mothers. From what I heard, they were both on the hoity-toity side.”

  “Why didn’t you ask for half the ranch?” Bonnie tried to push the anger down, but it didn’t work.

  “I signed a prenup. If I didn’t produce a son, then I got ten grand and a bus ticket out of the canyon,” she answered. “Figured I had a fifty-fifty chance, and I lost the bet.”

  “So I’m just the by-product of a bet?” Bonnie’s voice went all high and squeaky.

  “I know that tone, and I don’t like it, so goodbye.” Vivien ended the call.

  Bonnie wanted to throw the phone at the wall, but she shoved it into her hip pocket and stood up so quickly that she knocked her chair over. She stomped across the kitchen floor to the back door, didn’t even look back at the chair or the remainder of the toast and her half-empty cup of coffee on the table.

  She’d wanted to talk to her mother about these feelings she had for Rusty, but the conversation had sure enough taken a different path. “So, Mama, the ultimate love ’em and leave ’em married Ezra for money and security, not love,” she fumed as she got into her old truck and drove out to the hay field. “She hasn’t changed much, except she’s given up on security, and now it’s a good time she looks for. Even at her age now, she’s always looking out for thrills, and when she gets bored with whoever is providing her with drama and fun, she goes on the prowl for another one.”

  Rusty was in the adjoining field, and although she couldn’t see his face, she wondered if he was as angry as she was. Or maybe he was using his man powers and simply putting it out of his mind, like brushing a piece of lint from the shoulder of his jacket. Sweet Jesus! She had to persuade him to stay throughout the summer and fall at the very least.

  Bonnie parked her truck, rolled down the windows, and was still mumbling to herself when she opened the door to the cab of the tractor. A blast of heat that had the faint aroma of sweat and the smell of dogs hit her in the face. She hopped up into the driver’s seat, turned on the engine, and adjusted the air conditioner.

  “He can go if he wants to. I can hire another foreman and the summer help will be here next week, but he’s damn sure not takin’ the dogs,” she declared as she put the tractor in gear and started raking the hay into windrows. She wiped tears from her cheeks. She didn’t want him to leave, and it had a helluva lot more to do with her feelings for him than it did with finding another foreman. There she’d admitted it—she wanted more out of the cowboy than just having him as a foreman or even as a friend.

  * * *

  When Bonnie stormed across the distance between her truck and the tractor, Rusty could tell by her body language that the woman was still angry. Women were such strange critters. He thought she’d be happy that he was leaving the ranch.

  All of the sisters had been fast learners, but Bonnie had been the one who’d caught on to everything the fastest. Maybe it was because she’d had a hardscrabble life, and hadn’t ever been handed everything. Abby Joy had showed up with her stuff in duffel bags, and Shiloh with monogrammed luggage. Bonnie had arrived with her things packed in plastic Walmart bags, and not once had she let her older half-sisters intimidate her.

  She could run the ranch standing on her head in ashes, Rusty thought, and do a fine job of it. She don’t need me anymore. In the last six months she’s learned plenty enough to do the job until she can get a foreman.

  His phone rang, and he grabbed it without even looking at the name on the screen. “Hello, you ready to talk this through?” he asked.

  “No, but maybe we should,” Waylon chuckled.

  “Sorry, I thought you were Bonnie. We had an argument this morning,” Rusty told him.

  “Over what, if you don’t mind me asking?” Waylon asked.

  “Me leaving the ranch in the next few weeks,” Rusty replied.

  “I’ll gladly give you a job and pay you more than you’re making over there. I could use an extra foreman with all the new property,” Waylon said.

  “Thanks for the offer. The idea just came to me this morning that I should probably leave the place, and I want to think on it a couple of weeks,” Rusty said.

  “Don’t jump into anything without sleeping on it would be my advice, but I’d hire you in a minute if you make that decision,” Waylon said. “But the reason I called is that Shiloh and I are having a little barbecue for our hired hands tomorrow evening. We wanted to invite you and Bonnie. Cooper and Abby Joy are coming for sure. She’s been cravin
g barbecued ribs.”

  “I never turn down ribs,” Rusty said. “What time and what can I bring?”

  “You can bring a six-pack of beer. Shiloh says she’s asking Bonnie to bring baked beans.” Waylon chuckled again.

  “What’s so funny?” Rusty snapped.

  “Just thinking about the arguments Shiloh and I had before we admitted we were in love. It was a tough time, but seems like we all have to go through it until we admit to our feelings. That’s what Shiloh told me later when we talked about those days. I’m thinkin’ maybe you and Bonnie might be fighting over more than that ranch,” Waylon answered.

  “Me and Bonnie in love,” Rusty sputtered. “That’s not damn likely.”

  “Just tellin’ you about me and Shiloh. I’m putting you down for a six-pack of beer, but if y’all are still fightin’, then maybe you should bring a pint of something harder.” This time Waylon laughed out loud.

  “I’ll bring a damned twelve-pack,” Rusty growled. “And you better make extra ribs because I eat a lot when I’m aggravated.”

  “I’ll get another rack, then. See you tomorrow night.” Waylon ended the call.

  Rusty tossed the phone over on the passenger’s seat. He had the offer of a really good job, and he would still be in the area with all his friends. Maybe whoever bought Malloy Ranch would hate the place, and he’d have the opportunity to buy it again sometime on down the road. All he had to do was load up his truck, move across the road, and settle into Waylon’s new bunkhouse. He wouldn’t have a room all to himself, but he’d have a place to lay his head at night.

  At noon, he parked the tractor and noticed that Bonnie had done the same. They each got into their vehicles without even a simple wave, like they always did when they were heading back to the house for dinner.

  If that was the way she wanted to be, then Rusty would give her enough space to cool off. He didn’t even slow down when he passed the house but drove straight to the bunkhouse. All three dogs waited on the porch, and he bent down to pet each one of them. When he straightened up and went inside, they followed him.