Cowboy 12 Pack

by Cynthia D’Alba, Paige Tyler, Elle James, Donna Michaels, Shoshanna Evers, Randi Alexander, Cora Seton, Beth Williamson, Sabrina York, Sable Hunter, Lexi Post, Becky McGraw

  Bringing her mind back to the present, she refocused on the sexy soldier-sheriff still whispering to the now, much calmer mare. Big hand still slowly stroking, voice soft and low, the man could calm a charging rhino, especially of the female persuasion.

  As she continued to inspect the lean, broad man, one thing became abundantly clear. No matter what uniform Kade Dalton wore, he sure could fill it out. The tan shirt stretched across muscles rippling down his back and arms while the pants fit his hard form like a glove. A tight glove. A lucky glove. And yes, the man was hard, all of him, as their ‘pressing’ confrontation had recently confirmed.

  All her good parts were tingling.

  Again.

  Dammit.

  She didn’t want to be attracted to the man. He was a soldier. And off limits.

  Before moving to Texas from the Poconos back east, she’d made a vow. Service men were no longer on the dating menu. From any branch. Been there, done that…had the scars. Every boyfriend she’d ever dated had been a soldier. How could they not be? Her stepdad was a Major in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, and all four of her stepbrothers were Guardsmen. There was never a shortage of good-looking recruits coming in and out of her house while growing up. She’d always been surrounded by soldiers. Still, not all the soldiers she’d dated were bad. Just the last one. And he was bad enough to cure her of her attraction to any man in uniform.

  Her gaze lingered on the Texan, straightening up, giving the mare one last pat, lean forearm flexing in the process. As her mouth dutifully dried, she began to question that cure. Maybe the sheriff uniform cancelled out the soldier uniform. Yeah, that had to be it. That had to be why she lusted after the cowboy and hated herself for breaking her vow.

  Still, that was no reason to take out her frustration on him. It wasn’t his fault she was weak. She chanced a peek at his face. Maybe he wasn’t mad anymore.

  Silently exiting the stall, he secured the door, then turned to her. “Ma’am,” he said with a curt nod, before striding out of the stable.

  Nope. Still mad.

  Good going, Brandi. Way to piss off the local sheriff.

  And who could blame him? The man obviously adored animals, and she had to go and accuse him of neglect. Hell, she might as well have accused him of harming baby seals. Good thing she hadn’t, though, or those cuffs jangling just above his fine ass could’ve been on her wrists right about now.

  Was it wrong for that thought to heat her from the inside out?

  “…Not at all.”

  Brandi jumped, then twisted around to find Kade’s cousin standing in the doorway wearing a sharp, black pinstriped suit. “Oh, Kevin…you startled me.”

  Striking blue eyes lit when he grinned. “Sorry, darlin’, didn’t mean to.”

  He touched the brim of his black Stetson, and she wondered if all the corporate vice presidents in Houston wore one. Maybe it was a requirement his boss, Cole McCall, implemented. After all, she knew both drop-dead gorgeous men wore similar attire. Sort of a CEO cowboy thing. Her friends back east would drool a new lake if they were here.

  Of course, Cole McCall was no longer on the market. Nope. That handsome cowboy had recently gotten married to Jordan, one of the two sisters she’d become fast friends with while working on their restaurant a few months back.

  But Kevin, oh he was most definitely single. He loved women of all shapes and sizes and they loved him. Tall, dark hair, bright blue eyes, easy-going nature…yeah, he had women falling at his feet. Literally. She’d seen it happen on more than one occasion. Silly girls faking a fall just so he’d reach out and catch them. At first, Brandi thought the women pathetic, until she found herself fighting the urge to do exactly that with his cousin. What did that make her? A hypocrite?

  No. Pathetic.

  “I thought you heard me approach,” Kevin remarked. “My apologies.”

  “No worries,” she reassured. “But I’m afraid I didn’t hear what you were saying.”

  He shrugged and gestured with a nod toward the now empty doorway. “All I said was not to mind Kade, not at all. Abused animals make him hot, you know, in any angry way. Unlike you, darlin’.”

  “Me?” Brandi laughed, body warming for some unknown reason. “No. I’m pretty sure I made him hot in an angry way today.”

  “Oh? Really?” The handsome vice president raised a brow, gaze twinkling as he leaned against the stall, apparently more concerned about what transpired between her and his cousin than getting dirt on his expensive suit. “Do tell.”

  She shrugged. “Not much to tell, except I kind of…sort of accused him of…that.”

  Kevin’s gaze followed her finger, his blue eyes widening when he glanced at the mare. “Nooo!” He straightened from the wall, ripped the Stetson from his head and slapped it against his knee. “Oh man…I knew I shouldn’t have bothered with that second cup of coffee this morning. Damn, I missed everything.” His gaze shot back to her. “Tell me. I need to know. What happened? What’d you say? What’d he say?”

  Brandi laughed again. She couldn’t help it. The cowboy’s enthusiasm was funny. “Well, it all started when I heard the mare as I was walking past the stable to go ride my horse.” Her morning routine. She stopped by most mornings to ride the horse she boarded here at Shadow Rock, and it was always without incident. Until today. “I peeked in, saw the poor thing and got really angry.”

  “Yeah, how anyone could neglect their horse is beyond me,” the handsome cowboy said as he set the Stetson back on his head.

  “I agree. And you could imagine how disappointed I was to find a neglected animal on this property. I mean, you Dalton’s aren’t the type.”

  “Yet, you accused Kade.”

  She sighed, more than a little disgusted with herself. Okay, a lot disgusted with herself. “Yes, I did. But in my defense, the mare is practically all skin and bone.”

  “True.”

  “And on your property.”

  “Also true,” Kevin agreed. “But why in the world would you think Kade, of all people, could be responsible?”

  Good question.

  She lifted her shoulders again. “He was the first person I saw in the stable, so I guess I assumed the mare was his.”

  “Ah, so it had nothing to do with the fact he’s in the Guard?”

  “What?” Brandi reeled back, shock rolling down her spine. “No, of course not. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “You tell me.”

  She studied the handsome man. The crazy handsome man. He was off his rocker. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “Come on, Brandi. Everyone knows you did an about-face a few months ago…the very second you discovered my cousin was in the military.”

  Heat raced through her body and settled in her face. Mostly because it was true. Dammit. She just hadn’t realized everyone else knew. Not a comforting fact. Neither was the thought that maybe that really was the reason she’d assumed the horse had belonged to Kade and not the other three adults living at Shadow Rock.

  Shoot. She leaned back against the stall. Just because the last man she’d been attracted to was in the Guard, and a cruel ass, didn’t mean the handsome sheriff suffered the same affliction.

  “Look, I realize you’re new to Harland County,” Kevin said. “But you have eyes. I think you’ve been around my cousin enough to see he’s a fair and just guy. He would never stand by while someone or something needed his help. He’s the first to rush in…well, actually…” The cowboy snickered. “Now that Jordan’s back, he may be second.”

  Brandi smiled in agreement. The former L.A. cop possessed the same attributes the VP just mentioned. Come to think of it, Jordan and Kade were very similar. First to spot a problem. First to offer a solution. First to offer a helping hand. The kind to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves.

  Heroes.

  And she’d just accused one of animal abuse. Way to go, Wyne. She would never have accused Jordan of such a thing. Brandi wasn’
t sure what that said about her, but she knew it wasn’t good.

  “Ever since we where kids, Kade always had an affinity for animals and hated to see them abused. I think it was because of his upbringing.”

  Brandi’s heart dropped. “He was abused?”

  “Not exactly,” Kevin replied. “Neglected, well, actually more like abandoned.”

  “How awful.” Her gut twisted tight.

  Kevin nodded. “Since it’s common knowledge I see no harm in telling you about it.”

  Stop him. The sane thing would be to stop the guy. She was not interested in Kade, therefore had no real reason to hear or care about the sheriff’s childhood. And yet, her mouth remained clamped shut as her head moved up and down in concurrence.

  Stupid head.

  “Kade’s dad and mine were brothers,” the cowboy in a business suit began as he leaned back against the wall again. “My uncle was a Marine, and when he died in the first Gulf War, Kade’s mother—and I use the term loosely—moved to Shadow Rock with Kade. A few weeks later, the woman took off with a rodeo clown, and the two were killed in a car accident.”

  Air funneled into Brandi’s lungs and her heart instantly ached for the little boy. To lose both parents so young and so close together was just tragic. “That’s horrible. How old was he?”

  “Eleven.”

  Her stomach clenched tighter. Only a year older than she had been when her mother married her stepdad. It had been a lonely, confusing, scary time. Young Kade surely had felt the same way. At least she’d had her mother for a little while longer. Not much, but she was grateful none-the-less.

  “But Kade loved it here. He took to the ranch as if he’d been born on it, and enjoyed helping my father out no matter the chore. When my dad died in a freak ranch accident, Kade was as devastated as all of us, if not more.”

  “I’m so sorry. How old were you?”

  “Thirteen, Jen was nine and Kade was fifteen,” Kevin replied. “He stepped into my father’s boots, so to speak, and took over as many of my father’s chores as he could, doing them before and after school. I helped, too, of course, but it wasn’t enough. The ranch began to suffer both physically and financially. So, I got a job at Foster’s Creamery in town, and when he was old enough, Kade joined the Guard. The extra money made a big difference.” He shrugged. “Along with a loan from the Masters and the McCalls. They originally wanted to pay off the debt, but my mom didn’t want charity, so it was turned into a loan, on the condition Kade, myself and Jen went to college.”

  “Oh, how nice of them.” A smile tugged at Brandi’s lips. She could just picture her friends’ parents making that stipulation so the young Dalton’s had a bright future.

  “Yes, it was.” Kevin nodded. “We got degrees, paid off the loan, and we’re all doing what we love. Jen takes care of the books, I create software with my buddy the bossman, and my cousin loves the Guard, this ranch, and animals, especially those that are tossed aside or abandoned.”

  Closing her eyes, she dropped her head in her hands and groaned. “And I just accused him of doing that very thing.”

  A warm hand patted her shoulder. “Like I said, you aren’t from around here, how could you have known?”

  She opened her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, but…deep down, I did know. I knew he was a helper.”

  “Well, don’t you fret none, darlin’,” Kevin said, slipping an arm around her as they started to walk out of the stable. “My cousin not only has a thick head, he has thick skin to go with it.”

  Whether that was true or not, Brandi wasn’t going to sleep at night until she did a better job of apologizing to the man. And the sooner the better. So, not only did she have to put the finishing touches on the Garnett living room make-over, stop by the Masters’ to pick up a check for the patio job she was starting at the end of the week and meet with Jordan at her restaurant to discuss the preliminary design of her master bedroom suite, Brandi now had to track down a thick headed, thick skinned, sexy-as-sin sheriff and make amends. Today.

  God, she hoped the restaurant had a full pot of coffee on. She was going to need it.

  Chapter Two

  ‡

  KADE SHOULD’VE CLUED in. Judging by the encounter in the stable this morning, he should’ve known today was going to suck. Now, a false alarm and two nuisance calls later, he finally pulled up in front of the station for the first time that day.

  Situated between the post office and the fire hall on Main Street, the Sheriff’s Department faced the ocean in a fairly new building constructed after the historic one had become a casualty of the last Gulf hurricane.

  The hospitality in Harland County never ceased to amaze him. Everyone had rallied to help those who could be helped, and raised money for those who needed to start over. Now the Sheriff’s Department was as hurricane and tornado proof as possible with state of the art equipment. The two-story building was rather large considering there were only three staff members—him, a pubescent deputy and a secretary/dispatcher. But it was what it was, and he’d make do. He always did.

  Shifting the jeep into park, he was about to cut the engine when his cell began to pound out an AC/DC ringtone. Grateful the call was on his phone and not the radio attached to his dash, he glanced at the caller I.D. and breathed a sigh of relief. Connor McCall. His best friend since grade school. The way his day was going, he half expected it to be work related, or the Readiness NCO calling with a problem about the upcoming drill weekend. At least this was a social call. He could use a quick break.

  “Hey, Connor,” he said into the phone. “How’s the cattle treating you?”

  “Better than your horses, buddy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I heard there was a report of abuse in your stable this morning.”

  How the hell had he heard? Brandi and Connor’s fiancée, Kerri, were good friends, but he didn’t think the designer would mention the incident. Especially since she had made the mistake, not him.

  “Kevin told Cole and me all about it this morning.”

  “How the hell did my cousin know?”

  “So, it is true.”

  “What? No, it’s not true.” Kade blew out a breath. “Look, I don’t know what that woman has been saying, but you know damn well I’d never abuse an animal.”

  “Calm down, buddy. Calm down. Of course everyone knows you wouldn’t do any such thing. And no, Brandi wasn’t blabbing. Seems your cousin ran into her in the barn this morning. She told him about her mistake and how bad she felt. So, of course Kevin had to gossip like a little girl.”

  She felt bad? Good. She should. Maybe the woman actually possessed a little shred of conscience after all.

  A deep chuckle rumbled through the phone. “You sure have a way with the ladies, Kade.”

  “Shut up.”

  Another deep chuckle met his ear. “Can’t. It’s just too funny. Too absurd.”

  “True,” he replied, feeling a bit calmer. “Anyone who knows me knows I’d never neglect a horse.”

  “That’s not why I’m laughing.”

  “Oh?”

  “No. I’m laughing because you are so whipped and you just don’t know it yet.”

  His head jerked back. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  As Connor’s laughter increased, so did Kade’s frown. He was far from amused. He wasn’t whipped. He was in perfect control of his life. Perfect control.

  “Oh, man…” Connor sobered. “It wasn’t too long ago the roles were reversed in this conversation.”

  His mind instantly flashed back to a Skype conversation he’d had from Iraq with his buddy, right after Thanksgiving last year. One where he’d correctly summed up Connor’s relationship with Kerri.

  He smiled. “Yeah, but in that one, I was right.”

  “As I am now, buddy. As I am now,” Connor repeated. “But I’m going to take pity on you and drop it.”

  “Good, ’cause I was about to drop the call.”


  “You are such a baby. Why don’t you grow a set?”

  “And you’re a big pain in my ass, McCall.”

  “Then my job here is done,” Connor stated. “You still meeting me for lunch at the pub in an hour, or do you need more time to compose yourself?”

  “Now you’re just getting bitchy. And yeah, I’m still meeting you, provided I’m not sent out on another stupid-ass call. They’ve been one right after another today. Was there a full moon last night?”

  Connor snickered. “No, but it is Monday.”

  “True.” Kade sighed, running a hand through his short hair. “Only thirteen more hours to go.”

  “Then I’d better let you get back to it. See you later.”

  “Yeah, later.”

  Kade hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket. He had just enough time to tackle the morning paperwork before lunch. His least favorite part of the job, although given the way his morning had gone, it was a task most welcomed. Now if he could just get through the next hour or so without—

  “Mr. Sheriff Dalton, sir…”

  His young deputy’s voice crackled through the radio on the dash.

  He closed his eyes and sighed. Well that wish got shot to hell. Opening his eyes, he grabbed the mike and responded. “Yes, Donny, go ahead.”

  “I’m out at the old Blackwell ranch on a disturbance call and could use your help, sir.”

  Adrenaline instantly washed away Kade’s pity party and straightened his spine. “All right. Stay put. I’ll be right there.”

  The kid was barely out of his teens with less common sense than most, but a whole lot of heart, and a damn good crack shot. Still, the only reason Donny Royal was a Harland County Deputy was because his daddy was on the town council. Of that, Kade had no doubt.

  Six minutes later, he turned off the highway and onto the dirt road leading to the Blackwell ranch. Live oak trees whipped by in his haste. He hoped to God Donny listened to him and waited. The last thing he needed was the young pup walking in on a burglary in progress.