Sassy Cowgirl Kisses: A Sweet Romance (A West Brothers Romance Book 5)

by Kathy Fawcett

  The younger guests weren’t forgotten. There were water games, hay rides and bounce houses, and a few dozen floating toys in the stream, tethered to the shore. A miniature “road” was constructed, complete with traffic signs and accompanied by child-sized ATVs, scooters and bikes.

  At Kat’s insistence, the event planner hired a dozen young lifeguards and camp counselors from town to oversee the safety of the children, and a registered nurse to man a first aid station. This was after her own first attendance had been punctuated by bandaging scraped knees, fetching water bottles to cure dehydration, and dispensing antacids.

  Where’s that doctor—where’s Kat?

  She was beckoned all day long, in between bites of her BBQ sandwich and talking with people from other ranches. One guest even asked her to take a look at a skin tag that had been bothering her for months.

  “Now I see why you wanted a doctor in the family,” she deadpanned to Gunnar as she fell into bed at the end of that exhausting day.

  Gunnar had called Ash as he was leaving town a few days before, and apologized for not being home when Erik Olsen arrived for a visit. “I can’t say much right now,” he told the boy. “Getting Kat out of town for a few days is important. I’ll explain when I can.”

  “Will you be back for the cookout?” Ash asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Gunnar said, “that’s up to my wife.”

  Their trip was a mystery to Ash, and unsettling—selfishly, he could use his brother’s advice. But judging from the tone in Gunnar’s voice, he had his own problems to sort out. Since arriving back home, Ash had been getting a taste of the power and complexities a beautiful woman could bring into a man’s life.

  Just a boy at the time, he’d had a front row seat to Kat and Gunnar’s love story when they were all quarantined at the hospital years before. Now, Gunnar’s devotion to his wife was undeniable. But wasn’t he just as devoted to West Ranch? Would he move away if Kat asked him to?

  Pike left the ranch to pursue his art, but remained in West Gorge. Colton left the ranch operation to build a construction company in town. Even Ridge walked away from the day-to-day chores—first in his depression, and then in his happiness and desire to be with Casey.

  They were different; their identities were firmly rooted in the land and the people around them, and though nobody made him feel that way, Ash was a latecomer.

  “You have a seat at the table,” Ridge told him when the adoption was finalized, “same as the rest of us. A full portion of the good, the bad, and the ugly that is West Ranch.”

  Ridge had been modest; there was no bad or ugly that Ash could detect.

  An attorney went over the trusts and inheritance set up in his name, and indeed, his portion was staggeringly full—mind-blowing, in fact. More money than he knew a fellow could have at his fingertips. He thought the money his granny left him upon her death was a windfall, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the West money.

  “What do I have to do in return?” Ash had asked the attorney, wondering what the catch was; what strings might be attached. But the lawyer had smiled kindly.

  “Just be Ash West,” he said.

  Ridge and his new brothers gave him the absolution and fresh start he craved. A chance to lay down his anger and his thieving ways. Acting out, the therapist called his behavior; stealing, Officer Jason Scott had called it. They were both right. But as a West, Ash could move forward in life with a safety net of love, forgiveness, and the means to build a bright future.

  Ash knew he couldn’t earn what he’d been handed, but that didn’t make him long any less to earn it. He wanted more than anything to be a match for it, at any rate, by pouring himself into the ranch business with a heart of gratitude. And to do that, he needed to be front and center in West Gorge, Wyoming.

  In the morning light, the sweetness of his homecoming was nothing but a bitter taste in his mouth. The woman he was falling in love with told him to move along if he wanted a commitment from her. Ash should have backed off. He should have let his frustration with Sassy breathe before taking his next steps.

  But he didn’t. He sent a text instead that he deeply regretted, asking Amber to be his date for the big ranch cookout.

  “Why, I’d love to,” she’d answered quickly, sealing the deal.

  Now he was dreading the event that he’d been talking up to his friend Erik. His heart felt painfully squeezed by some unknown force, and he just wanted to talk with Sassy and work things out. At the same time, he felt guilty for giving Amber the wrong idea about his intentions, which were nothing but friendly.

  Why did he have to agonize about Sassy’s long-term plans? Why had he told Amber the cookout was a date?

  “Just be Ash West” hadn’t served him well in the past few days, trying to navigate his love life with zero experience.

  “Just be Ash West” was a clumsy idiot.

  Chapter 47

  “Welcome, everyone,” Ridge said easily into the microphone. He paused to give guests by the hundreds time to stop their conversations and turn his way. A few old cowboys were in the middle of shaggy dog stories, and were not going down without a fight.

  “I remember the year my mom and daddy first hosted a West Ranch cookout—about two dozen folks came from town and surrounding ranches. Now, look at us all!”

  Hoots and applause broke out in all the groups.

  “I’m going to let you get back to your dancing and gabbing and eatin’, but I want to give you a few ground rules. First, pick up after yourself—I ain’t your nanny.”

  The crowd laughed heartily at Ridge’s comment.

  “Second, keep your talk clean. My grandbabies are running around.”

  Many women nodded in appreciation.

  “And last, no fistfights over politics or religion. I’m looking at you, Marta.”

  At that, everyone laughed and applauded, while Marta Scott laughed the loudest.

  “Now, have fun,” Ridge said. “Oh, and one last comment for the church ladies. I’m not a young man; I’m only dancing with my wife tonight. Now let’s party!”

  Ridge handed the microphone back to the event planner and reached out for Casey’s hand as the band struck up a song. Together, the two made their way to the parquet dance floor by the river, where she fell into his arms as he spun her around. Soon, others were following suit.

  “Ridge West,” Casey said with a mischievous smile as they swayed back and forth, “I could tell those church ladies a thing or two that would make them blush, and make you out to be a liar—not a young man, my foot. Why, just last night…”

  “Oh, you don’t want to go and do that.” Ridge pulled her closer and whispered roughly in her ear. “It took me years to get them off my scent. Look at the lengths I had to go to, marrying you and all.”

  Casey gave him a playful swat on the backside of his jeans.

  “You must have thought you were doing me a favor,” she teased, “marrying the old maid realtor.”

  “Casey girl, everyone knows you got the short end of the stick with this marriage,” Ridge said with a wicked smile of his own, “but I’m going to hold you to it.”

  Before Casey could comment, Ridge kissed her hard on the lips, and then swung her into a dip before twirling her again. Off to one side of the dance floor, a group of elderly women from the Presbyterian sewing circle sat eating tacos and drinking lemonade.

  “He doesn’t look that old to me,” one mumbled in complaint, as the others agreed.

  “Or tired!”

  Chapter 48

  Sassy sat on a haybale off to the sidelines—her self-imposed normal. She was used to laying low at obligatory gatherings, and avoiding the ones she could.

  “Why bring attention to myself,” she’d say to her perplexed parents by way of explanation.

  “Why sit at home instead of enjoying life?” Her mother would counter.

  She was beginning to think there was a grain of truth to what her mother said. Maybe she had sat at home too much, out
of the fear of standing out. Maybe there was such a thing as being too comfortable with being anonymous. She’d missed out on a lot.

  But getting involved with Ash was a miscalculation.

  An overcorrection.

  Initially, she thought he was a means to an end… a way into the front door of West Ranch, and a conversation with the family. Thanks to Gunnar, she could check that off her list and move to the next step. So, the boy wasn’t necessary.

  “But he’s gorgeous, and he makes me feel… what?” Sassy mumbled to herself as she watched him on the dance floor with Amber. “He makes me feel.”

  Amber, Sassy assumed, was gloating at the turn of events and unexpected invitation. Watching the girl arrive with Ash, getting out of his Jeep like Cinderella at the ball, felt like a dagger twisting in Sassy’s flesh. She wanted to run far and fast, but stupidly, she’d caught a ride to the party with Freda and Eric. Nobody would be heading back to town for hours.

  Ash wore a faded denim shirt that looked spray-painted onto his torso. With the pearl snaps undone at the cuffs and his sleeves rolled up, Sassy could see the tanned arms that just about drove her crazy. Those arms had pulled her close for more than one lingering kiss. She’d caressed them, marveling at how capably they wrapped around her, yet how gently they brushed stray curls from her face.

  Sassy felt sick to her stomach watching those same arms hold Amber, and she wanted to cry. But under that denim shirt of Ash’s beat a stubborn heart; a heart too set in its ways for such a young man.

  “I just needed more time, Ash,” Sassy said miserably, under her breath, “to give you the answers you’re looking for.”

  The answers Amber already has, no doubt.

  She forced herself to look away, and caught Freda smiling and dancing with Erik Olsen and having a great time. It should have been she and Ash. Would have been, but for the things weighing them down—his crazy expectations, and her bombshell of a secret.

  So instead of spending the day anticipating a moonlight dance with Ash West, Sassy poured her energy into helping Freda get ready for the party. They chose the perfect dress, then Sassy meticulously blew out Freda’s damp hair with a dryer and brush so her butterscotch highlights would swing with life as Erik turned her this way and that.

  The efforts paid off. Freda was the prettiest girl at the party, and Sassy tried to let that be satisfaction enough—it might have been, but for the pain of watching Ash with his date.

  Sassy brushed a tear off her cheek, and wondered if this was how it was supposed to be. Maybe Ash was meant to be with Amber after college, and she had only upset the apple cart when she arrived at the ranch, like a time traveler who steps on a tiny ant and throws history out of whack forever.

  But things were being set to rights now, Sassy thought, as she watched Amber in her cowboy’s arms. Order was being restored. Because she was always going to leave Wyoming at the summer’s end… wasn’t she?

  “Care to dance?” Looking up, she saw one of the young ranch hands, Wayne, standing next to her with his hand outstretched. Sassy wanted to say no, but appreciated the courage it took to approach her this way.

  “Yes, thank you Wayne,” Sassy said as she stood. The band began playing a boot-scootin’ boogie number that kept them dancing apart, to Sassy’s relief. She smiled at Wayne and put some unfelt energy into pretending to have fun.

  It was almost fun, dancing under the star-filled Wyoming sky on a balmy summer night. When the song stopped, the dancers applauded the band and waited for the next number. Sassy wondered if it was too soon to excuse herself, but the bandleader spoke.

  “We’re going to slow things down for all you sweethearts out there,” he said with the first notes of what could only be a romantic tune about moonlight and fireflies. Sassy cringed inside and was about to beg off when a man’s hand appeared on Wayne’s shoulder.

  “Mind if I cut in, man?” Ash offered a handshake to her dance partner.

  Wayne tipped his hat to Sassy, and she nodded with a weak smile. Heart hurting at the sight of Ash West, she took a step backwards, away from him. But he reached out and gently pulled her towards him.

  “Please dance with me, Sassy,” Ash whispered when she resisted.

  Not wanting to embarrass him at his family’s party or make a scene, Sassy slowly walked into Ash’s arms, placing her hands loosely and reluctantly on his broad shoulders.

  Ash wasn’t having any of her reticence.

  He reached up and took one of her limp hands in his own, and tucked it tight against his chest. Then he took his other hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

  Sassy frowned. It was what she wanted, but not like this.

  “Ash… I…”

  She stiffened as he drew her body towards his own, but it was in vain. The warmth radiating from his hands and body melted her. Sassy’s broken heart raced as she turned her head to look over his shoulder.

  Don’t look in his eyes, she told herself. And do not cry.

  “Sass…” Ash moaned miserably into her hair, burying his face. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pressed you so hard, or demanded answers from you. I had no right.”

  He squeezed her hard and she felt as though he was squeezing unbidden tears to roll down her face. Sassy’s throat felt hot and dry, with a painful lump where her words were supposed to be.

  “Can you forgive me, Sass?”

  Turning just a bit towards him, she was hit with the musky scent of the bare skin on his neck, and in spite of the way it surprised her, it smelled like home. Wherever that scent was, and the heat and strength from those arms, that’s where Sassy wanted to be.

  The tears pooling in her eyes were hot, and were about to fall, right there in front of God, the Wests and everybody—at a party where others were laughing and having a great old time. She had no choice but to bury her face in Ash’s collar to hide her emotions. He must have felt her tears and her quivering because he held on tight and pulled her closer, dancing her slowly to a dark corner of the parquet floor and away from view.

  “Shh, it’s okay,” he crooned as he gently kissed the side of her face.

  Sassy sobbed.

  She cried out of relief to be back in Ash’s arms, though the same obstacles remained. She cried out of sadness at losing her father, and because the weight of the secret he’d saddled her with was too great. She cried at Kat’s coldness towards her, and at her mother’s shallow grief—Sugar’s heart should be shattered at the loss of Jack. And Sassy cried at the thought of returning home, only to find home to be a cold apartment. Her own childhood house likely sold and demolished.

  She never felt so alone. Sassy wanted Ash to kiss her; kiss the hurts away forever and never stop. But was this a pity dance? Was he simply being a good host, making sure everyone had a good time?

  Minutes later, after two more slow songs, Sassy was finally able to breathe deeply and get her emotions in check. Pulling her face from Ash’s neck, she got the courage to look into his eyes and tell him the thing that lay like a stone between them.

  “Ash,” she began quietly, “there’s something you ought to know.”

  But before she could say any more, Freda’s surprised voice cut across the dance floor and stopped her cold.

  “James Timothy,” Freda exclaimed. “What the hey howdy are you doing here?”

  Chapter 49

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Freda’s long-time boyfriend said mildly. The young people had all moved off of the dance floor and formed a circle—Ash to support Erik and prevent any loud argument, and Sassy, who felt she should stay close to Freda until further notice.

  “When you didn’t come home this weekend or answer my calls, I came to see if you were okay,” James Timothy said evenly. “But I see you’re just fine tonight, Freda.” His eyes softened as he gazed at her admiringly. “So fine. Beautiful, in fact.”

  Freda swallowed hard.

  “Looks like you’re having fun and I’m glad,” James Timothy sa
id, looking around and acknowledging the little group. “I haven’t been a lot of fun this summer, what with studying for the bar, and sending out resumes. Becoming a lawyer is one thing, but accepting the right first job is another. This decision will determine the trajectory of my career, and my ability to take care of my… family… if I’m blessed with one, someday.”

  James Timothy reached for Freda’s hand when he said this, but lost his confidence and dropped it again, looking at her with all the love and longing of a homesick puppy, Sassy thought.

  “I feel ya, man,” Erik said to him.

  Freda sighed heavily and turned to Erik.

  “James Timothy, this is Erik Olsen, Ash West’s friend from Michigan. We’ve been showing him around West Gorge.” James Timothy shook hands with Erik, and then Ash and Sassy as Freda continued the introductions.

  “How do you do,” he said to everyone. “I’ve heard a lot about y’all, especially you, Sassy. Freda tells me what a good friend you’ve become.”

  Sassy smiled. She couldn’t help but like the tall, handsome Jim Tim, who only had eyes for Freda Lang. With his humble, unassuming mannerisms, it was hard to see him as the villain Freda painted him out to be. Sassy thought him a perfectly grounded counterpoint to her more spirited friend.

  “Hey, I see someone I know,” the unflappable Erik said to a surprised group. “Excuse me.”

  Ash and Sassy watched as Erik walked over to Amber and asked her to dance. Moments later, the two were smiling and laughing on the parquet floor while Freda had quietly slipped her hand into James Timothy’s own.

  Sassy imagined it fit like a glove.

  “Sorry I’ve been so aloof these past few weeks, Freda. You deserve so much better. I’ll go back home if you want, but… well, you know I’ve loved you since I was fifteen. You’re the motivation behind everything I do. I only want to work hard and be worthy of you.”

  Bolstered by her simple gesture, he reached up and took a few strands of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. Then he let his thumb gently travel down her jawline. The touch was so intimate, Sassy thought she should look away.