Stealing the Cowboy's Heart

by Debbi Rawlins

  The bell over the door rang.

  Thank God.

  “Excuse me. I have a customer,” she murmured and hurried up front.

  Mallory was holding the door open and looking back at the street. She turned when she saw Kylie. “Hey, how did it go last night?”

  “Good. Great, really.” Kylie tilted her head to see who Mallory was holding the door for.

  “Rachel was right behind me.” Mallory let go of the door. “I should’ve known she’d get sidetracked.”

  “Nope. I’m here.” Rachel caught the door before it closed and rushed inside, her eyes bright and eager. “So, tell us everything.”

  Mallory gave Kylie a sympathetic smile. “Where did you guys go?”

  “Dinner in Kalispell.”

  “Your hair looks terrific, by the way,” Mallory said. “I love those highlights.”

  “I like it, too,” Kylie murmured, moving to the end of the counter where there was less chance of Landon overhearing.

  Rachel frowned. “Where are you going?”

  Kylie had to think fast. If it was only Mallory she could’ve given her a nonverbal sign. But not Rachel. “I’m thinking of making this area more like a coffee bar. What do you think?”

  “You already told us that,” Rachel said. “I’m more interested in your date with Kevin.”

  “I told you, we went to dinner.”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t care about that.” Rachel sighed. “I want to know if you got laid.”

  Suddenly her friends both jerked a look toward the kitchen, and Kylie knew... Darn him, why couldn’t he have stayed put?

  Landon stood in the doorway, his mug in hand. “I was kinda wondering that myself,” he said and winked at Kylie. He smiled at the other two. “I’m Landon. But don’t mind me, I’m just getting more coffee.”

  Rachel stared, her mouth slightly open.

  Mallory chuckled. “I don’t believe it. Rachel is speechless.”

  “Oh, my God,” Rachel said, with a quick glance at Kylie. “You have so much to tell us.”

  “Thanks, Mallory. You couldn’t leave well enough alone?” Kylie saw that Landon had drained the coffee and was about to make another pot. “Go,” she said, taking the filters from him and pointing to the kitchen. “I’ll take care of this.”

  “Oh, no.” Rachel pressed a hand to her tummy. “The smell will kill me.”

  “Then you’d better leave,” Kylie said, already measuring the grounds.

  “That’s so mean.”

  “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Come on, Rach.” Mallory took her arm and steered her toward the door.

  “I’m Rachel Gunderson,” she called to Landon. “I look forward to visiting with you.”

  He stopped and turned. “Any relation to Matt Gunderson?”

  “Who do you think knocked me up?” Rubbing her stomach, she sighed as Mallory dragged her outside.

  “Matt’s wife?” Landon asked once the door closed.

  Kylie nodded. “They have a ranch south of here. Do you know him?”

  “I’ve met him. I used to see him around before he left the tour. I’d forgotten he was from around here.” He glanced out the window. “Matt’s a champion bull rider. He was at the top of his game when he just up and quit. He shocked everybody.”

  “Oh, you mean because there really is life after rodeo?” She immediately regretted her sarcasm but there was nothing to do about it now.

  Landon shook his head. “It’s not unheard of. What’s he doing these days? Raising cattle?”

  “Primarily. The Lone Wolf has been in his family for generations, but I think his focus is on raising rodeo stock. He’s already produced two champion bulls.”

  “So you are keeping up with rodeo news?”

  “No. They’re my friends. I keep up with them.” Kylie poured in the water, grateful she had a reason to avoid Landon’s gaze.

  He wasn’t so quick to fill the silence. He leaned against the counter, watching her. “What’s going on here, Kylie?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I understand why you’re hurt and angry with Gary but—”

  “Was hurt and angry. Past tense. I rarely think about him anymore.” She saw doubt in his eyes and shrugged. “Believe what you want but that’s the truth. I’m happy here. I have friends. Real friends.” She noticed his slight cringe. She hadn’t meant it as a jab.

  “Are you staying with your aunt?”

  “I did for the first couple months. Then Mallory, the woman with Rachel, moved, and I took over the house she’d been renting. It’s small, just two bedrooms, but it has a big porch, a nice backyard, and it’s right off Main Street.”

  “Sounds perfect for you.”

  “It is.” She noticed he’d shifted his weight. “Let’s go back to the kitchen so you can sit down.”

  Without arguing, he turned around. “Mind grabbing that crutch for me?”

  It was the one he’d left behind so he could carry his mug. Instead of waiting for her to pass it to him, he limped into the kitchen ahead of her.

  Kylie shot a glance out the window to make sure no customers were about to come in before she followed him. “Something’s wrong with this picture.”

  He looked at the crutch she held up. “I don’t need it. I just didn’t want it in your way.” He sure looked relieved when he sank onto the chair, though.

  “So what, it’s just for decoration?”

  “I meant I didn’t need it for this short a distance.”

  “Ah.” She leaned the crutch on the island where he could reach it.

  “Hey, I’ve been doing everything the physical therapist instructed me to do. You think I wanna stay benched? Every rodeo I sit out costs me money and a chance at the finals.”

  Kylie darted him a look but he’d shut down. His expression went blank. “You must be ranked high to be thinking about the finals.”

  He shrugged. “I was doing pretty well until this happened.” He gestured to the injured leg and practically snarled. “Talk about lousy timing.”

  “I can’t imagine there’s ever a good time for a broken leg,” she said, and went to the sink and washed her hands. “I, on the other hand, do have a timing issue. I need to have this order ready by twelve-thirty.”

  Landon looked at the old clock on the wall beside the pantry and smiled. The picture of a fancy cupcake was captioned with I Bake in big bold letters, followed by so I don’t strangle people in a dainty cursive used to hang in her kitchen. “You still have that.”

  “I tried getting rid of it but somehow it just wouldn’t stay in the donation box.” Her laugh ended in a sigh at the sight of the mangled cupcake. “Too bad you don’t like chocolate cupcakes.”

  “Who says I don’t?”

  “Are you kidding? I must have made thousands of cupcakes over the years, and I don’t think you touched a single one of them.”

  “Only because I knew you were filling orders. I didn’t want to screw up your count.”

  She hadn’t yet iced the six extra she’d made for the display case, so she snitched one from under the dish towel, then turned to Landon. “Well, you were the only one.” She should’ve known, she thought. Landon had always been considerate like that. And Gary, who should’ve been supportive of her fledgling home business, well, he’d been just as bad as the rest of his thoughtless buddies.

  At times he’d treated her like his personal maid, minus a paycheck. And what had Kylie done about it? Nothing. She’d made excuses for him, to herself, to her friends, to her mom...although that was easy. Her mother never had a problem giving a man a pass.

  Thinking back to those horrible days shamed Kylie to her core. She couldn’t bear to imagine what Landon had thought of her lack of backbone. And then to
make things worse, she had a sudden flashback to that day she and Landon had almost kissed.

  At the memory, her cheeks flamed. Why did her brain have to dig all that up now? This was exactly why Kevin was the right kind of man for her. She’d always know where he stood, and that job emergencies notwithstanding, when he’d be home each night.

  “Kylie?” Landon’s tone suggested this wasn’t the first time he’d tried to get her attention.

  Finally she looked at him, but it wasn’t easy.

  “What are you gonna do with that?” he asked, nodding at the ruined cupcake. “I’d be happy to take it off your hands.”

  “I thought you watched what you ate.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m allowed to cheat now and then. Especially when something smells this good.”

  Kylie heard the jingle of the bell over the door and handed Landon the cupcake. “I’ll be right out,” she called as she took off her apron.

  “Take your time,” Joe Hopkins replied in a gravelly voice.

  “Stay here while I talk to Joe.”

  Landon put his hands up. “Whatever you say.”

  She didn’t believe that for a minute.

  Chapter Six

  True to his word, Landon stayed in the kitchen. Though he didn’t understand why she wanted him to hang back. Maybe she thought he’d butt in, which he wouldn’t have done since he knew very little about carpentry.

  He liked the other possibility better...that he was too big a distraction. Fair was fair. Thinking about her had given him a broken leg.

  In the long run it didn’t matter that he’d stayed in the kitchen. He could hear every bit of the conversation thanks to Joe’s loud voice. The counter and cabinet didn’t seem to be very complicated, and Landon was pleased that she asked about his idea for the bench seats. But after Joe quoted her a price for the whole job, Kylie was quick to ask him to give her a separate number for just the counter and cabinet. It took the guy a few minutes to revise his price, but even then, Kylie didn’t commit to anything.

  The fact that she wanted to keep the same rustic feel as most of the shops in town, but still give it an urban twist made it impossible for Landon to judge whether either quote was reasonable or not. All he knew for sure was that it had given Kylie pause.

  Leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, he checked out the stout, middle-aged man as Kylie walked him to the door. Joe eyed him back and Landon gave him a friendly nod.

  As soon as the man was gone, Landon stepped out of the kitchen. “You think he’s charging too much?”

  Kylie glanced at him, her brow furrowed in thought. “I honestly don’t know,” she said, then turned back to studying the wall as he moved over next to her. “You know,” she said, without looking at him, “the bench seats really are a good idea.”

  “Joe seemed to think so, too.”

  “Yeah,” she said, angling her hands in front of her as if she were visualizing the booths. “They’ll still have to wait. I won’t know for a while if this coffee bar idea will even work.”

  “What if you didn’t have to pay for anything but the material?”

  She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I have my hands pretty full ruining cupcakes.”

  “I’ve got nothing but time for the next couple of weeks. I could probably handle it.”

  Her brow furrowed again. “With a busted leg.”

  “I’m not completely helpless. And there’s got to be a local kid who could use a few bucks for helping me with the lifting. Right?”

  “I think what you’re supposed to be doing is recuperating.”

  “Right, but I still have to keep myself busy enough that I won’t go insane. Seriously, Kylie, it can’t be all that difficult.” He hoped.

  “What do you know about carpentry, anyway?”

  “I grew up on a ranch. You think I didn’t have to do my share of repairs?”

  “That’s not the same as building something from scratch.”

  She had a point there, but when she folded her arms across her chest, he couldn’t seem to make heads or tails of what that point was.

  But he didn’t let his gaze linger. He needed to get a tight grip on his control or he was going to blow his best shot at getting close enough to Kylie to see if they could have something.

  She studied him for a long time, but before she could speak, a couple of women walked in and while they clearly knew Kylie, they seemed to be a lot more interested in looking him over.

  He needed to make himself scarce. It was easy to slip back into the kitchen and listen to the women chatting up a storm, while using the opportunity to call his brother. Chad was the handy one in the family.

  “Hey, you got a minute?”

  Chad snorted. “Yeah, I’m fine. And you?”

  “Listen, I don’t have much time. You can give me shit later.” Landon kept one eye on Kylie while he described the work she wanted done, and named the price Joe had given her before Landon mentioned the tables and bench seats. “What do you think? That sound about right?”

  “Hell, I can’t answer that. I’d have to see the place. Why not buy tables and chairs? It’d be cheaper and faster.”

  “The place is small and kind of rustic. Bringing in furniture won’t fit with her plans. Which is why I thought of setting up a couple of bench seats against the wall, with two small tables in front, and a chair or two.”

  “Good thinking. But that wasn’t part of the quote.”

  “Yeah, I know. She wants the counter done first. Mostly I want to make sure the guy isn’t ripping her off. It’ll probably end up that he just builds the counter. As for the rest...you know, since I have some downtime...”

  “Wait, wait. What are you saying?”

  “I figured I’d take a stab at the benches and tables.”

  Chad’s laugh didn’t make Landon feel any better, but there was no time to argue. Kylie was boxing up some cupcakes. “Come on. Help me out here. There’s gotta be a way I can pull this off.”

  “What kind of wood?”

  “She mentioned oak, so I guess I’d go with that.”

  Chad hesitated. “Dude, really? You’re thinking of doing this yourself?”

  Landon had no idea what he was thinking. Although what he was considering didn’t seem too complicated. All he cared about was not seeing Kylie disappointed.

  “Who did you say this is for?”

  “Okay, gotta change the subject,” Landon said when he saw Kylie ring up the order. Chad grunted, prompting Landon to add, “No joke.”

  “Ah, this woman isn’t just a friend.”

  When he didn’t answer, Chad started laughing. Landon met Kylie’s eyes and stepped back so she could enter the kitchen. “Mom isn’t back yet, huh?”

  “Nope. The end of next week.”

  “I’ll come for a few days once she’s settled.”

  “Figures. We’ve been haying. Could’ve used your help now.”

  “With a broken leg?”

  Chad barked out a laugh. “You’re looking for sympathy from me?”

  “Good point,” Landon said, glad they could finally laugh like this. After his brother’s accident, there hadn’t been much to laugh about for a long time.

  “Anyway, hotshot, you could’ve run the baler. Just like I do,” Chad said. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, you’re not still sending checks, are you?”

  Damn. Landon had hoped the topic would never come up. “I’ve been laid up. I don’t have money coming in.” It wasn’t a lie, even if it didn’t really answer the question.

  “If you’re sending some to Mom so she can go on her trips, that’s something else. But the ranch is doing fine. In fact, we made more money this past year than we have since we lost Dad.”

  “Huh.” Apparen
tly his mom hadn’t been stretching the truth. “Glad to hear it.”

  “You don’t sound like it.”

  “What? No, I am. I just got distracted. Sorry.”

  “I figured you might be pouting because Martin and I are doing so well without you.”

  “Screw you.” Landon forced a laugh. His brother had struck him where it hurt. He’d also confirmed a suspicion Landon had been harboring for the past six months. Good thing he’d planted the seed that he was considering buying his own ranch. He wasn’t sure the family had believed him.

  “Seriously, dude. After my accident, the money helped. Hell, it saved us, and we appreciated it—”

  “I know, Chad.” Landon watched Kylie pull ingredients out of the pantry and fridge. She didn’t look very happy. “Listen, I’ll call you later, huh?”

  “Yeah, I gotta go too,” Chad said, and Landon could hear all kinds of commotion in the background. “And dude, don’t be a dumb ass. You might be able to pull off a bench seat, and hell, you can buy a table kit. But you don’t need a broken hand to go with your leg. Not if you want to make it to the finals.”

  “I hear you.” They disconnected, and Landon limped closer to Kylie. “You need some help?”

  “Do you know how to frost cupcakes so they’ll all come out identical?”

  He rubbed his jaw. “Can’t say as I’ve done it before, but if you showed me...”

  She smiled. “I was teasing.” She glanced down at his leg, and when she looked up again the smile was gone. “And by the way, just because you had a clever idea doesn’t mean I didn’t notice that you just had to stick your nose in my meeting with Joe. Even after I asked you to stay out of it.”

  “Um, excuse me, but you only told me to stay in the kitchen. And secondly, I didn’t say a word to him.”

  “So hovering in the doorway had nothing to do with this idea of yours?”

  “You mean the clever idea?”

  “I said it was a decent idea,” she muttered, and bent over to look in a lower cabinet. “But I haven’t said I approve of you doing any of the work.”

  “True.” From where he was standing he had a great view of her rear. The worn denim stretched over the curve of her perfect behind, making him itch where he most definitely couldn’t scratch.