Finding Home (Roped by the Cowboy Duet Book 1)

by J.C. Valentine

  FINDING HOME

  Roped by the Cowboy Duet, 1

  By J.C. Valentine

  All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book is copyrighted material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any form without the prior permission of the publisher, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

  FINDING HOME: Roped by the Cowboy Duet, 1 Novel

  by J.C. Valentine

  Copyright © 2018 by J.C. Valentine

  Cover design by J.C. Valentine

  Edited by Mitzi Carroll

  FINDING HOME is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events portrayed in this eBook either are from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, establishments, events, or location is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. Please do not take offence to the content, as it is FICTION.

  Trademarks: This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective holders. The author acknowledges the trademark status in this work of fiction. The publications and use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Books by

  J.C. VALENTINE

  Night Calls

  Stranded

  That First Kiss

  Surrender to Love

  Trust

  Wayward Fighters

  Knockout

  Tapout

  unDefeated

  Blue Collar

  Sweetest Temptations

  Noel: A Blue Collar Christmas

  Forbidden

  Dance for Me

  Lie to You

  Fall for Him

  Forbidden Valentine

  Spartan Riders

  Grit

  Mettle

  Vigor

  Brash

  Cocky

  For more titles, visit your favorite online retailer!

  ABOUT THIS BOOK

  Life is unpredictable. Vivian learned that the hard way and did the only thing she could: she ran. But life isn’t about to let her off easy.

  Nash is everything a woman wants and nothing Vivian could have planned for. Gorgeous with his sexy blue-eyed stare, toned body, and wearing a cowboy hat, he’s the perfect package and Vivian’s ideal rebound. Too bad he wants nothing to do with her. That’s fine. Vivian wasn’t looking for love anyway, but her meddling new roommate has other ideas.

  Two people from different worlds shouldn’t make sense, but desire is an animal that won’t be denied. With secrets lurking on both sides of the fence, however, it’s just a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  You know me, I like to change things up a bit (and often!), just like my reading tastes. That’s how we’ve come to cowboy romance. There’s just something about a hardworking man with a Southern accent…Well, I’m sure you can relate, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this book! Thank you for taking another chance with me. I hope you enjoy the, er, ride *wink*

  (This next part I won’t change, because it still very much applies.)

  I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my family and friends. Mom, Mitzi, Mia, Holly, Cheryl: you have been the anchors in my life. You’ve kept me strong, even through (numerous) moments of self-doubt. You’ve kept me focused and cheered me on every step of the way. Thank you for never losing faith in me even when I did. There aren’t enough words in the world to describe how much I love and appreciate you.

  Finally, I have to thank my kids, because they’re my driving force in this world. Everything I do, I do for you!

  ONE

  “Reconfiguring.”

  Vivian Parish clamped her jaws together at the sound of the robotic voice repeating itself yet again. Normally, she loved Siri to freaking death. The girl had gotten her out of a lot of would-be-sticky situations, but today, she was as useless as a pair of crutches to a three-legged dog.

  Getting lost along an endless length of dusty, two-lane highway with zero signs of life was not her idea of a fun time. Had she just gotten on a damn plane she wouldn’t be chasing her tail in...in...

  Hell if she knew where the hell she was. Not even Siri could figure it out.

  “Reconfiguring.”

  Dammit! She just wanted to see the ocean! Frustrated, Vivian tapped her manicured fingernail on the screen in hopes that it would help set the map straight. Instead, it blacked out, dying in the middle of its attempts to get her back on course.

  Welp, that settled it. She was going to die here.

  Where the hell was here anyway? She’d been driving for days. Aside from a few patches of forest to break up the rolling green hills, the landscape hadn’t changed much. If only the highway hadn’t suddenly veered off to become a scenic, ancient stretch of roadway that didn’t even remotely resemble the six-lane monstrosity teeming with travelers, she wouldn’t be on the verge of a panic attack right now.

  Regret set in that she hadn’t paid more attention to her geography teacher when he’d taught her and the rest of her ninth-grade class how to read a map. It’d never made much sense to her, and with today’s technology, she hadn’t seen the point in learning, but now...

  The only plan she had to fall back on was to continue driving. Civilization had to sprout up sometime. One look at the needle on the gas gauge and she knew that moment needed to be soon.

  “God, please don’t let me get stuck out here and get eaten by buzzards,” Vivian prayed aloud. “Oh, and Amen.” Good Christian training and a grandmother who never missed a nightly prayer despite never attending Sunday Mass taught her that. A prayer couldn’t be heard unless it was ended properly.

  The Big Guy must have been listening today because, moments later, Vivian caught sight of something moving in the distance. Her eyes narrowed to slits and she leaned forward, crowding the steering wheel with her body, trying to make out what it was she was seeing.

  As the car closed in on the object, she realized it was a man in a cowboy hat riding his horse. As she watched, he pulled the horse to a stop and dismounted with an easy grace that gave her senses a little kick, then approached the stretch of barbed-wire fence dividing the land from the road.

  Relief swelled in her chest. The presence of another person meant civilization was within reach. Finally, she wasn’t alone.

  At the sound of her approach, the man’s head lifted, and she caught a glimpse of the stranger. Tendrils of dark sweat-soaked hair peeking out from beneath a dirty hat, sun-kissed skin, and a toned, rugged body stuffed into a pair of painted-on jeans. Damn! God must have been having a good day when He made country boys. If this guy looked half as good up close as he did at thirty-five miles an hour, she might pull a Scarlet O’Hara and faint.

  The sound of a shotgun blast broke through Vivian’s daydream, and before she could register where it originated, the steering wheel jerked beneath her fingers, sending the car careening toward the ditch.

  “Holy...!” Struggling for control, Vivian fought the pull, pumping the brakes and praying for all she was worth. It wasn’t until she’d successfully brought the car to a stop along the side of the road that she took a full breath.

  “Oh my God,” she muttered to herself as she rested her forehead against the steering wheel and drew
in deep, cleansing breaths. “We almost died, Siri. My whole life just flashed before my eyes.” Worse, the last vision she had was of a pair of Manolo Blahniks she’d had to pass over last week because her newly divorced ex-husband had removed her name from their shared credit card accounts.

  Did that make her shallow?

  The knock on her window sent her heart racing again, and Vivian shrieked in surprise. The scream died slowly when she looked up to find a concerned cowboy staring back at her.

  Oh wow. She’d had the vague impression that he was attractive when she’d passed him by the fence, but up close, he was a total stunner. He had the looks of a tall, dark, and deadly character, but those baby blues, wide clean-shaven jaw, stone-cut features, and the hint of an alluring smile claimed he just might be a touch sweet, too.

  “Are you all right, ma’am?”

  His voice muffled, Vivian pressed the button on the automatic window. It slid down slowly, giving her time to gather a few words that wouldn’t make her sound like a rambling idiot. Turns out, she needn’t worry about that. The total lack of words coming from her mouth just made her look like one.

  As the cowboy waited, a warm, friendly smile slid fully into place. Pressing his hand to the roof of the car, he leaned down. “Are you all right?” he asked a little slower and softer this time, reducing his voice to a rumble.

  Vivian’s insides melted at the sound of his thick, Southern accent. It rolled over her like...well, silk was too cliché a word for it. Ribbons of melted chocolate? Nonsense. Now her brain was just trying to be poetic. Too many romance novels had finally warped her mind.

  “I’m okay,” she finally said.

  He stepped back as she popped the door open and attempted to get out. Instead, the car started coasting forward, and Vivian realized with a start that in her moment of near-heart failure, she’d forgotten to put it into park.

  With an “eep!” of surprise, she slammed on the brakes, the sudden stop despite the low speed jarring her, she pushed the gear into park and turned off the engine for good measure.

  “Oopsie,” she said abashedly when she caught the cowboy’s sexy, amused smile.

  Forcing herself not to look at him, she swung her feet out of the car and stood, turning to survey her vehicle instead of the rear end that was no doubt very, very nice.

  The Porsche was listing to one side, and as she glanced down and located the ruptured tire that’d nearly sent her to an early grave, she cursed.

  “If you have a spare in the trunk, I’d be happy to put it on for ya.”

  Spinning on her heels, she asked hopefully, “Really?”

  “Sure, just pop the trunk. It’ll be the work of a minute, and you’ll be on your way.”

  Thrilled to have come across this man at exactly the right time, Vivian lunged into the front seat and pulled the keys from the ignition. “You’re a lifesaver. I can’t begin to thank you enough,” she was saying as she pressed the button to the trunk. Her words trailed off when she caught the look in his eye.

  The cowboy’s eyes, which had been traveling the length of her body, snapped up to meet hers and he cleared his throat. She knew that look. Those blue eyes were spiked with a heavy dose of arousal. With a casual, unapologetic smile, he turned toward the back of the car, opened the trunk, and hefted the full-sized hunk of rubber from it.

  Her own blood simmered as she watched him set to work. Men weren’t made like him back in Chicago where she lived. Nothing like her ex-husband at all. This man was rangy, his body long and lean, muscles honed to perfection. Every inch of him, from his flexing biceps to his carved back, to a—yep, she was right—tight, round backside shouted working man.

  Wasn’t there a saying about saving a horse and riding a cowboy? Well, for the first time in Vivian’s life, she found herself considering what it would be like to try out a man who didn’t wear a suit to work.

  Getting lost in her fantasies, Vivian failed to notice that the cowboy had finished the job until the moment he dumped the ruined tire into the trunk and slammed it shut.

  “You’re all set,” he said and extended his grease-stained hand out to her.

  Blinking, Vivian reached out and plucked her keys from his soiled palm, careful not to ruin her manicure. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.” Wanting to repay him for his kindness, she said, “Let me give you some money for your time. I don’t have a lot of cash on me, but I can write you a check.” At least she still had that. Andrew hadn’t gotten around to closing their joint account yet. An oversight, surely, but at this point, she’d take whatever small graces she could get.

  His smile inched up higher and, oh yeah, he had a nice set of matching dimples that served as the punctuations on his already insanely handsome façade. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “But I insist!”

  “Keep your money,” he argued, backing toward the field with both hands up in front of him.

  Vivian stared after him. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. Making sure you get back on the road safely is payment enough.” Then, in a manner that made Vivian’s heart gallop, he pinched the brim of his hat and tipped it to her.

  She must have stood there forever. Or at least, long enough to watch him jump back over the fence, climb back on his horse, and ride away. He’d come and gone so fast it felt as if she’d dreamed the whole encounter.

  As Vivian climbed back into her car and pulled onto the road, she shook her head in amusement. “Get a grip, girl,” she told herself. A month out from what turned out to be a nasty divorce, and she was behaving like a hormonal teenager, panting after the first hot guy to cross her path.

  It was a good thing divorce had opened her eyes to the fact that, even after sharing ten years of her life with someone, there was no way to truly know a person. Otherwise, she just might have asked that sexy cowboy out for a couple drinks rather than letting him ride off into the sunset.

  If by some chance she ran into him again, though, he would be the perfect rebound cure.

  TWO

  He was right. Civilization was just another four and a half miles down the road, which meant that when Vivian’s car sputtered and died at the four-mile mark, she didn’t have far to walk.

  In hindsight, the four-inch heels probably weren’t the best attire for a road trip. It was just that they made her legs look amazing, and she needed a good dose of amazing after everything she’d been through in the last year.

  It wasn’t every day that a woman found out the man she’d been, well, not in love with, but in committed matrimony and mutual like with since…well, since their families pushed them together was in love with another man.

  At least Andrew’s parents were on her side. As part of high society, the DeBoises had an image to uphold, and their bachelor son bringing home his boyfriend wasn’t part of that perfect family image. The divorce had been enough to send them into a tailspin, harassing their son day and night to reconsider and to “stop this nonsense at once.” When they found out about the boyfriend, they were going to be livid. She didn’t want to be there when that happened. Andrew would be lucky to get out alive.

  Stopping in the middle of the desolate roadway, Vivian slipped off her shoes and hobbled the rest of the way toward a dusty old building with a big weathered sign mounted to the front over the wide porch that read “Grocery.” Apparently, they got straight to the point here and didn’t like fussy stuff, like actual defining names that the box stores had.

  Loose rocks made the journey a painful one, and loose dirt in the parking lot made it a dirty one, but at this point, Vivian was beyond caring. She’d already lost everything, so why not her dignity too? Seemed par for the course.

  Wooden planks creaked under her feet as she stepped up onto the porch, and a little bell chimed her arrival as she walked through the door. Casting her gaze around, she saw long aisles of shelves filled with everything a home might need in the way of food and personals. What she didn�
�t see was a clerk anywhere.

  Approaching the counter, she read the small, handwritten sign that had been left out. “Back in ten. Leave your money on the counter. Thanks for shopping with us,” she read to herself. The honor system? In this day and age? “People are crazy,” she muttered as she turned back around and decided to peruse their stock. She was in desperate need of coconut water and protein bars. There hadn’t been many places to stop along her mysterious route, so she hadn’t eaten in hours.

  She found chips of every brand and flavor—jerky, too—pops and beers galore, and an entire deli slash bakery slash meat counter fully stocked. What she didn’t find was anything she actually wanted.

  Of course. Just her luck. Trapped in the middle of nowhere with people who lacked basic good taste. She’d bet they wore Wrangler jeans and Hanes T-shirts too. Maybe she should have just stayed in the city instead of running off like a drama queen.

  But she wasn’t a drama queen. She had good reason to get out of there. Andrew had made her life hell, taken all their friends for himself, and given her the boot from their penthouse, leaving her practically destitute. From trophy wife to pauper in a matter of weeks. She was so depressed, she almost picked out a candy bar. But losing her figure would be just another black mark on her already dour mood.

  You know what? Screw it! She was getting the candy bar. There were so many to choose from, but since they didn’t have coconut water, she picked a Mounds. At the counter, she opened her wallet and put down a dollar bill because she didn’t carry change, and ripped open the wrapper, stuffing a dark-chocolate nugget into her mouth.

  The bell above the door chimed again, and Vivian turned to see who it was. Probably the clerk returning from wherever people around here disappeared to—Nope. Since it wasn’t her lucky day, week, or even month, it had to be the sexy cowboy.

  He stopped to stare at her, amusement coloring his sunburned cheeks. Vivian stopped chewing and shifted the mountain of coconut and chocolate to one cheek.