Cowboy's Haven

by Ella Cooper

  It took two years before the appellate court overturned the decision. By then, Bentley had been imprisoned for almost four years, dumped by his girlfriend and lost all his rights over the ranch. His acquittal did not change anything. For the many people in their town, he was still a convicted prisoner. The cowboy’s haven and the life he cherished were all gone.

  Now, that money-sucking bitch would have everything.

  #

  Loud footsteps awakened Mandy. She grabbed the shotgun and walked to William’s room, which was across from hers. Her heart jumped when she saw her son was not in bed. Mr. Pennington will stop at nothing to get you and the ranch. Mrs. Osborne’s word crossed her mind.

  “William!” Mandy called. Her face lit with relief when she found William at the door.

  “Momma, Daddy’s home,” William whispered. “We need to hide, or he’ll hurt you again.”

  Mandy felt a sharp pain punch her heart. Her son knew of Jonathan’s abuse despite her effort to hide it. She grabbed her son and hugged him. She was about to carry William back to his bed when strange sounds came from outside.

  “No, no!” she yelled when flames erupted from one end of the field.

  Mandy ran out to the field in her thin pajamas. Some men laughed loudly as they left in a truck. “Help!” she yelled with all her strength, but the next house was miles away from the ranch. No one could hear her pleas.

  Hope sparked in her heart when fire truck sirens sounded, but the hope faded fast. She did not need to call the fire department. Everyone could see that the field was burning. The flames had engulfed half of the fields. She dropped on the floor and cried as the flames destroyed the remaining parts of the fields.

  “What happened, Mandy?” Sheriff Osborne asked as soon as he arrived with Mrs. Osborne.

  “It’s gone. Everything is gone,” Mandy replied with tears. “That stupid, filthy pervert! He did this.”

  Sheriff Osborne could not disagree with Mandy. The canola field was her hope. It was also the one thing that could hinder Mark Pennington from getting what he wanted.

  “We will investigate everything,” Sheriff Osborne told Mandy.

  “I told you already, Mandy,” Peter Dowell, a young firefighter, said. “You need a man in this house, or you need to leave.”

  Mandy hid her frown at Peter’s suggestion. The firefighter had been trying to get her to have an affair with him. He’d promised to take care of her and William. She turned him down and Peter had been cold since then.

  “You need to wait till fall before you can revive the fields,” Mrs. Osborne. “Peter has a point. You better ask Bentley to come back. After all, half of this should be his.”

  Mandy clenched her jaw to avoid retorting to Mrs. Osborne. Bentley owned nothing in the ranch because her son was the true owner.

  “William!” Mandy yelled. She ran back to the house to look for her son. The little child stayed in the bathroom, just as his mother taught him. “Thank God!”

  You need a man in this house or you need to leave. The words replayed in Mandy’s mind as she hugged William. Bentley owned nothing in the ranch, but he was the only one who could help protect William. He was William’s uncle. William was the only family they both had. Maybe Bentley would have the heart to protect her son.

  Chapter Two

  “Cowboy, your Mrs. Hawkins is looking for you,” Patrick announced while the staff cleaned the club.

  Everyone in the club stopped and looked at Bentley. No one knew about his personal life except for Terry Harden, the owner of the club.

  “You’re married?” Elise, a female dancer, asked in disappointment.

  “To a hot younger Momma, too,” Patrick replied for Bentley. He pointed at the dancers as he added “Younger than you. Prettier than you. Hotter than you. And, with tits bigger than yours.”

  The men in the club laughed. Another server added, “No wonder none of you got to sit on his lap.”

  “She’s not my wife,” Bentley said in a cold tone. He looked at Patrick and said, “Tell her to leave. I don’t know her.”

  A couple people gasped. Bentley walked to the stockroom and left the others in wonder. He snorted and arranged the beer cases. She must be desperate, he thought. Jonathan’s wife had written him a letter a few days ago. She pleaded for help for her son’s sake. Why should I care? Jonathan never cared about him. Why would he care about his son?

  A ball hit the tiny window of the basement and startled Bentley. He walked closer and saw a little boy running to the ball. The boy saw him, and they looked at each other. His lips curved into a smile when he met the little boy’s eyes. They had the same dark hazel eyes which looked reddish brown under the sun. The boy had a wavy, dark brown hair, too. Bentley laughed. The boy looked like his younger self.

  “Momma, there’s a man down here!” the boy yelled.

  Bentley looked at the boy’s mother. A strange energy filled him, and the wanting he’d controlled for almost two years began to revolt. The woman awakened the beast inside him. The boy’s mother did not meet his usual type in a woman. She had straight, pitch black hair and a pear-shaped body. Her breasts were well-endowed, and her hips were curvier than any dancers’ in the club. Her tan skin and big, black, almond-shaped eyes established her American Indian origin.

  Bentley blew a long hot breath when his eyes landed on the woman’s butt. It was round and plump. He would love to take her from there. His daydreaming ended when Patrick stepped out to meet the woman. Her? He could not believe that the curvy, hot woman – the boy’s mother – was his sister-in-law.

  “Momma, there’s a man down here!” the boy repeated.

  “William, I told you not to step out of the truck,” the woman told the boy.

  The woman walked closer to the boy. Bentley’s body boiled with heat as the woman walked closer to the basement window. His cock twitched hard as his anger and desire mixed together. She’s Jonathan’s woman, he kept telling himself, but his body ignored him. Everything in him wanted the boy’s mother to be his woman.

  Bentley rushed out of the basement and ran to the club entrance. The other workers gave him strange looks. Fuck! He cursed quietly as the young mother drove away in a truck.

  “Patrick, what did you tell her?” Bentley asked aloud. He sounded yelling.

  “I told her you refused to see her,” Patrick stuttered as Bentley looked at him with sharp eyes. “Y-you said you did not know her.”

  “Did she say anything?”

  “She said the number in the ranch never changed. For the boy’s sake.”

  Bentley followed the truck with his eyes until it was out of his sight. Something strange pricked his heart and made him question the situation. Why was Jonathan’s wife desperate to protect her son? He wanted to deny his concerns, but the mother and son had breached his heart.

  “I think they are heading to the farmer’s market,” Patrick told Bentley. “The truck was full of plants in the pot.”

  “You better be right,” Bentley said as he walked to his Harley.

  “Hey. Why is it my fault?” Patrick asked.

  #

  Bentley looked around the farmer’s market. He went straight to the area where farmers sold potted plants. Only a few venders sold potted plants, and his sister-in-law was not one of them. Damn it. He was about to leave the area when a kid bumped him from behind. His face lit up when his nephew looked up at him.

  “Where’s your Momma?” Bentley asked the child quickly. The child looked at him with a blank expression.

  Bentley looked around and found his sister-in-law looking for her child. He was about to ask the kid about his mother again when someone behind him whistled and said, “Check the hottie out.”

  Bentley glared at the man who spoke. The man looked at him and shrugged.

  “I’d sell my farm to have my cock in her pussy,” the man told the farmer next to him.

  “William!” the woman called with misty eyes. Her voice shook with fear as she added, “I told you
not to let go of my hand.”

  Bentley stared at his sister-in-law with awe. She was more beautiful up close. Her dark eyes sparkled like black diamonds as tears cover her black pupils. Her tan skin was not too smooth, but it still looked firm and supple. It seemed that she worked under the sun instead of bathing like a princess. Mandy looked at him. Her face turned pale. She quickly hid the little boy behind her back.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  Bentley could tell that her bravery was forced. “I’m…,”

  “Momma, what’s a cock?” William cut in suddenly. The child’s mother turned red at her son’s loud question. She covered his mouth, but the child pulled away and said, “He said he would sell his farm to have his cock in your pussy. But, Momma we only have a kitty.”

  Bentley’s eyes widened as the kid continued to retell what he’d heard. His sister-in-law looked at him with angry eyes. He wanted to explain, but she swung a slap straight onto his cheek.

  “How dare you say something like that in front of my baby?” she said. Her anger made her accent crisp.

  Bentley glared at his brother’s widow. The men beside him chuckled, but they fell silent when he glared at them.

  “Why are you mad at him?” William asked. He pointed to the other man and said, “That old man said it, not him. Why, Momma? Is it bad to have his c..?”

  The flustered mother covered the mouth of her son. She looked at the real culprit. The man turned around and walked away. Her face turned pinkish with shame as she looked at Bentley.

  “Sorry,” Mandy muttered as she walked away with her son.

  Bentley massaged his cheek to ease the burning pain of his sister-in-law’s slap. He looked at her as she made her way into the crowd. His cock twitched hard as his idea of revenge crossed his mind. The little boy turned to him and his glare mellowed. A smile appeared across his face when the boy smiled at him. He looked at his sister-in-law again and thought, does she really love the boy?

  Bentley had loved his mother, Eva. His mother may have loved him, too, but not in the same way she loved Jonathan. Eva wanted to give Jonathan everything, even if it meant sacrificing her other son. Bentley clenched his jaw as he looked at his sister-in-law. She and his mother could be the same. Mandy was only doing everything to give Jonathan’s son everything. He closed his hands into fist and swore, I’m going to get back what is mine.

  #

  Mandy cupped her face as soon as she sat on the driver’s seat. Her face burned, not with embarrassment, but with a strange heat that came from her heart. She could not breathe in comfort because of the loud thumping in her chest. The edges of her lips pulled up into a smile, but she quickly sucked her cheeks to stop it. The man’s eyes looked familiar – like she had stared at them before.

  She took a deep breath to calm her heart. There was something in the way he looked at her. It was different from the looks she received from other men. Most men looked at her like they wanted to hump her. He looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  “Are we going home now, Momma?” William asked.

  Mandy turned to her son and remembered the embarrassment he caused. She laughed a little as guilt struck her. Her actions and apologies were rash. William looked at her with his gleaming eyes. Her heart jumped when she noticed the resemblance of her son to the man.

  “It was him?” Mandy uttered as she looked back at the market.

  Bentley Hawkins walked toward a motorcycle. She looked at William again. Mrs. Osborne always said that William looked more like his uncle than Jonathan. They had the same eyes and the same wavy brown hair.

  Mandy unfastened her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. “Wait,” she called when Bentley hopped on his bike.

  She stuck on the ground like a statue when Bentley turned to her. A strange energy raced from the ground up her spine. It made her tremble and made her heart gallop like a racing horse. Her mouth turned dry and her mind went blank at his stare.

  His stare was different from before. The attraction was gone, and all she noticed was the anger that blazed from his hazel eyes.

  “Y-you’re Bentley Hawkins?” she asked in a stutter. Her throat shook hard as her heart pounded in her chest.

  “And you’re my brother’s bitch?” Bentley replied.

  Her heart stopped pounding for a moment. Her jaw trembled with disappointment and anger combined. He was really Jonathan’s brother, she thought. Neither one knew how to respect a woman. Or maybe it was just Mandy they couldn’t respect. She controlled her rage to avoid arguing with Bentley.

  “William, this is your Uncle Bentley,” Mandy introduced after she carried William out of the truck.

  William flashed a bright smile at his uncle. Bentley did not return his smile. The child looked confused and turned to her mother. Mandy glared at Bentley and comforted her son.

  “I need your help,” Mandy pleaded. “For William’s sake, come back to the ranch.”

  Bentley looked at the child for a moment. He snorted and turned on the ignition of his Harley. Mandy stepped forward to stop him, but he turned to her and said, “What makes you think I would help the woman who made the ranch fail?”

  “I didn’t make it fail,” Mandy retorted.

  “Then, you make it stand on your own,” Bentley replied.

  Mandy wanted to beg again, but Bentley rode his motorcycle away from them. She glared at her brother-in-law until he was out of her sight. She looked at William, who was still confused.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you and what is yours,” the young mother promised her son.

  Chapter Three

  Mandy rose from her bed in a panic when she heard a sound of a motorcycle pulling in. She grabbed the gun from under the bed and rushed to William’s room. Her son slept soundly despite the disturbance. Her heart jumped when something screeched from the kitchen. She tightened her grip on the gun and walked to the stairs in silent steps.

  “Leave the gun,” a man said before Mandy could take the first step down the stairs.

  All the lights in the lower floor turned on. Her eyes widened when Bentley stood at the stairs with a gallon of milk in his hand. Her heart stopped when Bentley looked her over from head to toe. She wore thin shorts under a large flannel shirt, which made her look bigger than her actual size. There was no judgment in Bentley’s eyes, as if her appearance did not matter to him.

  Mandy began wearing larger clothing since Jonathan left the ranch. Larger clothes made her breasts look smaller and did not emphasize her curves. It was a strategy to disappoint Jonathan and the other men who showed interest in her. She would rather be ugly than let Jonathan treat her like his personal slut.

  “What are you doing here?” Mandy asked. She glanced at the clock. It read two thirty. “You could have waited until it was morning.”

  “You asked me to come back. You did not say when,” Bentley replied as he walked away from the stairs.

  Mandy rushed after Bentley, but she tripped on one of William’s toys. She dropped the gun and it fired by accident. Bentley grabbed her in a swift move and pushed her to the wall. His wide body covered her as if he meant to shield her from any bullet.

  The young widow remained like a statue under Bentley. Her heart pounded hard as the warmth of Bentley’s worried breath blew on her head. She could feel the pounding of his chest on her face. A strange energy tickled her heart, and her lips curved into a smile despite her fear. A woman always dreamed of a hero or a knight in shining armor. For a moment, she thought her dream had come true.

  “I told you to leave the gun,” Bentley said. His voice was low, but tense with anger.

  “I-I’m sorry,” Mandy uttered.

  She was about to add something when they heard a series of gunshots from the fields. Bentley pushed her to the stairs and said, “Get the kid and hide under the bed.”

  Mandy hurried up the stairs to William’s room. She woke up her son and led him under the bed. The child was so sleepy that h
e fell back to sleep in the midst of the commotion. Mandy looked at William and thought of leaving him. Bentley was alone and she was scared that Mark’s goons would hurt him.

  Someone entered the room just when the worried young mother was about to crawl out. She crawled back and shielded William. She sagged with relief when Bentley bent down and said, “You can come out now.”

  Mandy tried to wake up William, but the child refused to wake. She crawled out of the bed and tried to pull the child out. Bentley pushed her aside without a word and pushed the heavy bed to expose the sleeping child. He raised an eyebrow at Mandy and gave her a sign to pick up the child.

  “Tomorrow, get your things out of the master bedroom,” Bentley ordered. “I’m taking it as my room.”

  Mandy almost dropped William. Bentley’s demand shocked her. She had thought of this possibility. Jonathan had always told her that Bentley wanted the ranch for himself. She feared that she had made a wrong decision.

  No. She’d worked hard to preserve the ranch in the past three years. William should be the rightful owner of the ranch, and no one else.

  “That room is mine,” Mandy objected.

  “This house only has three rooms. The other room is full of junk. Where do you want me to stay?” Bentley asked. He forced his voice to be lower to avoid waking the child.

  “In the barn. There’s a spare room there. I can clean and arrange it tomorrow.”

  Bentley glared at her. He took a step closer to Mandy and said, “I’m taking this room. If you don’t want to leave, then you’ll sleep with me.”

  Mandy trembled with anger even as Bentley’s words thrilled her. She looked at him and caught him staring at her lips. She could tell that he had the urge to kiss her. Disappointment always filled her when men looked at her with wanting. But with Bentley, she was disappointed that he still had not kissed her. Snap out of it, Mandy.