Cowboys in Her Heart

by Jan Springer

  “I don’t have a doctor.” Where in the world was she going to find a doctor? She lived in the wilderness for heaven’s sake.

  “Listen, I know a doctor right here in Thunder Bay that is accepting new patients. She’s actually my doctor. Why don’t I phone her and we can make an appointment with her? We mention about the light bleeding that you’ve had for a day over the last three months and I’m sure she’ll make you a priority. In the meantime, we’ll get you an over-the-counter pregnancy test?”

  JJ’s heart hammered so hard against her chest, she thought she might actually pass out. This was all so overwhelming. She might be pregnant, yet there might already be a complication? She watched numbly as Kelly quickly punched in a number on her cellphone.

  Oh my God. This was all happening so fast. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea wanting to have her own baby? Especially with all her anxiety issues.

  JJ reached for her coffee. Her hands shook so bad she could barely hold the mug. What kind of a mother would she make if she freaked out at everything? What had she been thinking bringing a baby into this world when there wasn’t even a hospital nearby in case of emergencies?

  Okay, just relax. Breathe. Just breathe. Everything is going to be okay. Just breathe.

  The roar of an incoming plane had Brady hurrying from the barn where he’d just helped two first-time mother cows give birth. They’d gone into labour within an hour of each other and he’d been hopping back and forth from one stall to the other like a worrying mother hen. But in the end, both mothers had done a great job and Brady had left them happily licking their own respective calves.

  JJ’s timing was perfect, he thought as he sauntered into the yard. He was finished for the day and he couldn’t wait to see her. He’d already come to the conclusion that he would just come right out and ask her if she was pregnant. He would do it tonight. When they were snuggled into bed together.

  Tonight, would be the perfect opportunity because Rafe and Dan would be away for a few days clearing a section for that new cabin they would be building. Brady started down the trail when he stopped abruptly as a rush of panic whipped through him. As he gazed past the straggly pine trees that flanked the trail, he didn’t see JJ’s white float plane moored at the dock. Instead, it was a familiar brilliant blue float plane.

  Worry pummelled him. Had something happened to JJ? Was Blue coming with bad news?

  Just as quickly as it had come, his panic crumbled when he spied Blue climbing out of the plane. She was followed by three men.

  Thank God! Blue had probably dropped by as a pit stop. Maybe she was low on fuel or wanted to show her passengers the ranch.

  Man, he really needed to stop worrying about JJ. She had plenty of flying time under her belt now. She appeared eager and confident with the plane. But still, he always had an uneasy feeling when she went up.

  Brady sighed and then he started down the trail toward Blue and her passengers.

  The air smelled of pine as he walked and he noticed how pristine blue the lake appeared today. Bright white sparkles twinkled off the gentle waves and there was not a cloud in the sky. From nearby came a cracking sound of a woodpecker snapping its beak against a tree and as Brady drew closer to the dock, he heard the three men laughing with Blue.

  She was a nice woman. Cheerful and friendly. She had a daughter who had been born right here at the ranch over a year ago. It had been an emergency landing out on the ice. JJ had only been here a short time, but she had wound her way into their hearts really fast.

  Sometimes he wondered where Blue actually came from. She was secretive about her past, aside from revealing she’d once been a cop and a nurse. People hiding their pasts wasn’t unusual up here in the desolate wilderness. Some folks came to search for peace from their demons. Others came for the peace and beauty, yet others, like Rafe, Dan and himself, just wanted to carve out a cattle business of their own and get away from the city life.

  As Brady drew closer to the three men and Blue, he noted something familiar about two of the men. A moment later, he realized why.

  His younger brother, Mitch! And Paul, his best friend!

  “Well, shit! Here’s my old brother!” Mitch shouted when he spied Brady.

  Mitch’s deeply tanned face split into one of warmth and joy as his brother rushed up the dock to meet him. In a second, Brady was being crushed inside a warm embrace.

  “We finally got around to coming over,” Mitch said as he broke the hug and slapped Brady on his shoulder. Then Mitch stepped aside so that Paul could gave him a quick hug too. There was a third man who joined them. He had a stern look, remained silent and nodded.

  Brady returned his nod.

  “What the hell are you guys doing here? On vacation?” Brady asked.

  “We’re neighbours, actually,” Mitch chuckled. He pointed southeast of the lake.

  “We have a ranch on one of the many rivers that comes off this lake. The one they call Snowy Creek. It leads out to Snowy Lake which is big enough to land a float plane.”

  Confusion hit Brady. He knew there were a bunch of rivers and creeks at the south boundary of this lake but he hadn’t realized there was a ranch nearby.

  “What? Like you’re on a wilderness trip or something?” Brady asked.

  “Nope, the three of us are Snowy Creek Ranch. We’ve leased several hundred acres of land from the Canadian government. We’re building a spa retreat for race horses. Having fresh air, loads of space to run free and having organic feed for race horses during their downtime is of high demand. And you’ve said how much you like it out here, so we figured hell, let’s join Brady and his buddies. Give them some company.”

  Truly Brady had no idea how to react. This was just one hell of a big surprise.

  “You’re welcome to stay here until you get situated,” Brady said, suddenly remembering his manners. Although they only had one guest room, he was sure they could figure out something. Brady could bunk with Dan or Rafe and that would free up another room. One of these guys could share that room.

  “We’ve actually already got a camp set up. We’ve been out there since the snow was gone. Blue flew supplies in for us today and I mentioned I was your brother so she insisted we come over today so we could touch base,” Paul said.

  He looked around and frowned.

  “Nice place but it sounds kind of quiet.”

  “I guess JJ is out with the plane.” Blue remarked as she joined them.

  Brady nodded. “She went into the city. Rafe and Dan are away getting some land ready for a cabin we’re going to build so we can use it during fall round-up.”

  “Paul and I can give you a hand in building that cabin. Daegen can stay back and keep an eye on our place. Right, Daegen?” Mitch said.

  The man who’d remained silent up until now nodded.

  “No problem,” he said.

  “Appreciate it. We can use all the help we can get. We’re starting at the beginning of August. Show up here and we’ll put you to work”

  Brady turned to face the stranger.

  “And since my rude brother isn’t introducing us, I’m Brady, Mitch’s oldest brother.”

  “Daegen,” the man replied with a nod.

  Brady reached out and Daegen stared at Brady’s hand as if it were a foreign object. Reluctantly he reached out and shook hands. The man’s handshake was firm and steady and the dark brooding look on Daegen’s face suddenly disappeared. Brady immediately liked the man. But instincts made Brady believe the guy had somehow been wounded or wronged in some way and was realizing Brady could be trusted.

  “Daegen is a man of few words. He was in the military and now he prefers the quiet nature instead of the racket caused by flying bullets,” Mitch said. His brother didn’t go further into detail and Brady didn’t want to pry. Besides, it wasn’t his business. Daegen was just another person who appeared to want to disappear from civilization.

  “So, you’re serious? You’ve
moved up here?” he asked as he turned his attention back to Mitch. He just couldn’t believe that Mitch had walked away from his lucrative accounting firm in Mississauga and Paul had left his veterinarian practice there as well.

  “Yep,” his brother’s brown eyes sparkled with happiness. Besides having a really nice tan on his face and arms, his cheeks were red from the fresh air. Brady hadn’t seen Mitch this happy since they were kids.

  The last time Brady had seen Mitch was a couple of years back when he’d come here for an impromptu visit. He’d been pale and unhappy. When Brady had prodded him asking what was wrong, Mitch had brushed him off, saying everything was fine.

  It hadn’t been, but Brady knew his brother. He was one stubborn son of a bitch and pestering Mitch had gotten Brady nowhere.

  “Come on up to the house. I’ll put on some coffee and JJ has a damned good chocolate cake ready to carve up. She made it last night,” Brady said.

  The men shook their heads.

  “We’ll take a rain check. Daylight is burning. We have supplies to unload so we need to get back before it gets dark. We have a cell phone but signals are sporadic. Texting might work. Or drop by anytime. We’ll make sure we’re here beginning of August.”

  Wow. This was all dropping on him like a bomb. But in a really cool way.

  “Thanks. You guys don’t know how much help you’ll be. We’ll head over to check out your place on our first available day off. But it might take some time. Probably after the final cattle roundup late autumn,” Brady replied.

  As they slowly walked along the deck toward the plane, Mitch and Brady did a fast catch up on other family members while Blue, Daegen and Paul climbed into the moored plane.

  Then Mitch was gone.

  A few minutes later, Brady watched the blue float plane as it roared over the sparkling waves. The plane lifted off the lake and then sailed up into the sky. Before long, it became a dark speck and then disappeared over the southeast treeline at the other side of the lake.

  Brady shook his head. Wow had that just happened? Had Mitch and the others just been here? It was unbelievable. His brother was starting a horse ranch? Man, it was so cool. They had neighbors. JJ was going to be happy and he couldn’t wait for her to meet his brother.

  Brady glanced at his watch. JJ would be coming home soon. He needed to get supper started for her.

  Unbelievable. His brother was living practically next door. Up here, twenty miles away was pretty much right on the ranch’s doorstep. Brady gave out a loud whoop, turned and headed back along the trail toward the ranch house.

  Chapter Three

  JJ couldn’t stop trembling as she glided her float plane over the wavy waters and then arrowed toward the dock. Twilight had descended and thankfully Brady had left the dock lights on allowing her to see where she was going.

  Everything had happened so quickly after Kelly had gotten off the phone with the doctor’s office. They had asked her to come in right away as they had an afternoon cancellation and Kelly, bless her heart, had taken the rest of her day off, to accompany JJ.

  It had felt nice to have someone, other than the guys, to confide in. She loved her three sexy cowboys with all her heart, but sometimes a woman needed to have female companionship.

  Living out on the wilderness ranch, it was rare to see another woman. Before she’d gotten her pilot licence, she’d been able to chat with the women pilots who’d drop off supplies for the ranch, but now JJ was the ranch’s sole transporter of goods.

  Meeting Kelly in that pharmacy had been fate, she thought, as she tossed the ropes out the doorway. She heard them smack against the dock as they fell onto the wood. Quickly, she ducked beneath the plane’s wings, and climbed onto the dock. In moments, she had the plane secured.

  As she’d circled the lake to come down for a landing, she’d spied the buttery glow of lights spilling from the windows of the ranch. Brady was home. Now she just had to figure out how she was going to break the news that she’d gotten from her new doctor. And she needed to tell the guys too.

  JJ blew out a tense breath and turned to gaze out across the lake. Everything looked calm tonight. The sky had turned dark, and there was a quarter moon. The pine trees that hugged the nearby shoreline were black.

  She heard little splashes of fish jumping from the water to catch mosquitoes. She knew that one of these days they’d have to squeeze some serious fishing into their schedule to replenish their fish stock. She’d heard that organic fish was good nutrition for pregnant women.

  She smiled, swept a hand over her belly, closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the wilderness.

  A song bird chirped from somewhere nearby as it readied itself for the night. Waves gently lapped against the aluminum pontoons of her plane and a loon cried a lonesome melody out on the lake.

  It was incredibly peaceful here and she was glad to be away from the city sounds of cars honking, people talking and the ear-shattering roar of plane engines at the airport.

  The early June air was mild as it breathed against her and the scent of pine made her inhale deeply. This is where she belonged. This is where she would raise her children.

  Happiness spilled through her. She blew out her breath and opened her eyes. It was time to get some of the supplies that she’d bought out of the plane.

  She turned and for a split second she tensed as she spied the silhouette of a man standing in front of her not more than twenty feet away. Then she relaxed as she spied Brady’s white teeth flash beneath the moonlight. He heart began a strong thump as she noticed he wore his cowboy hat.

  Damn her weakness for cowboy hats. She wanted him to make love to her, right here and now, but the plane needed to be unloaded.

  “So glad to be back, Brady,” She was so glad to see him too and it felt as if her happiness was going to bust right out of her.

  “Hey babe, I didn’t mean to scare you. You look so peaceful standing there. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “I’ve got a ton of stuff that I picked up for us while I was in the city,” she said.

  Eagerness scrambled through her and she stepped toward the plane.

  But he stopped her, grabbing her by her elbow.

  “Hold on, beautiful,” he murmured as he pulled her around to face him.

  She gazed into his eyes and to her surprise, she saw a flicker of worry, but that quickly disappeared and then she saw so much sparkling love.

  Emotions burst through her. There was wonder and disbelief and immense love. Sometimes she just couldn’t believe this big man loved her.

  “What’s wrong? Did something happen when I was gone?” she whispered. She fought a slice of anxiety that maybe something had happened to one of the guys.

  He shook his head and relief poured through her.

  “Nothing but good stuff. I’ll tell you about it, later. Much later.”

  He dropped his hand from her elbow, slipped his palms against hers and intertwined their fingers.

  “Shhh, let me just look at you. Do you know how much I missed you, Jennifer Jane?”

  She trembled beneath his lusty look. She knew he would show her just how much he loved her when they climbed into bed tonight.

  “I was only gone for a few hours, Brady,” she teased. She treasured when he got serious like this. It meant he truly cared for her. Truly loved her. It felt so good knowing she was surrounded by such love.

  It helped to chase away some of her lingering anxieties and helped her to feel stronger knowing she had his support no matter what.

  “A few hours without you is like a lifetime, baby.”

  Her breath halted as his head dipped toward her. She closed her eyes and whimpered at the explosion of sensations whipping through her as his hot mouth melted over hers.

  Oh dear. She got the feeling, Brady wouldn’t be interested in seeing all the things she’d bought while she’d been in the city today. Suddenly she didn’t care about them either. Suddenly
she had something much better to do.

  As his mouth slid over hers, she began to unbutton his shirt. She wanted Brady. Right here. Right now, on this dock.

  “Someone’s in a hurry," he chuckled against her mouth. But he began to undress her too.

  "Make love to me, and Brady," she whispered as she tugged off his shirt and ran her hands over his quivering chest muscles. Gosh, she loved the heat of his flesh. The fresh smell of his body.

  "Maybe we should take it indoors?" he asked. But she knew they would never make it.

  The fire raging was too hot. He had already removed her shirt and he was working on his jeans. Reluctantly, she slid her hands from his chest and eagerly slipped her fingers beneath the waistband of her pants.

  A moment later, they were completely naked. She nestled her hands on his waist hoping he would simply thrust into her. He didn't.

  Warm lake air breathed against her body as he kissed her again. His mouth felt like a volcano and his tongue was like a fiery bolt of lightening as it clashed with her tongue.

  Brady's hands settled on her hips and he groaned as his stiff cock found and then massaged her alter a sensitive clitoris.

  She moaned as pleasure of sparkled. He growled in response and then he broke the kiss. He popped off his cowboy hat, lowered his head and sucked a nipple into his mouth. Her flesh was tender and she jerked as his teeth scraped and then his tongue rubbed.

  Sensations whirled around her, leaving her panting and gasping. He moved his mouth to her other breast. Pleasure whipped through her as he nibbled and bit.

  He sucked until she burned. Then without warning, he let go of her trembling flesh.

  His lips melded over hers again and he pistoned into her. She cried into his mouth as pleasure tore through her. She came apart, jerking and moaning and loving his thrusts.

  This was perfect. He was perfect. He was exactly what she needed tonight.