Falling for the Cowboy

by Mary Leo

  “Oh, Daddy, why didn’t you just tell me that a long time ago? That’s easy.”

  And she raced to the front door full of smiles. When she got there, someone opened it and she raced inside.

  “That one is smarter than both of us combined,” Dodge said as he carried an extra-large bowl of his mashed spuds. His father could do without almost anything else on Thanksgiving, but he adamantly refused to try to make it through dinner without mashed potatoes made with real butter and cream, both of which Kitty feared.

  Ever since Maggie had left, Blake didn’t care much about potatoes or turkeys or tofu. Nothing seemed to matter to him except Scout.

  And he certainly would not be proceeding up Kitty’s sidewalk right now if he thought there was any chance Maggie might be there. Truth was, the only reason he had agreed to any of this was because Amanda had told him a couple of days ago she’d heard that Maggie was on her way to London to score some megadeal.

  That suited Blake just fine. The farther away Maggie was the better. It gave him the freedom to live his daily life without having to think about seeing her again, because he knew if he did, there was no telling what kind of fool he might make out of himself.

  Dodge made his way ahead of Blake, slipping inside the house as soon as he arrived at the front door. Blake lagged behind, suddenly not wanting to be there. Not wanting to go inside and listen to people talking about Maggie and how great she was doing with her new job or how happy she was flying all over the world, perfectly content to be living in a city again.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want Maggie to be happy. He simply didn’t want to know she could be happy without him when he was so miserable without her.

  “Hi, Doc,” Maggie said from the shadows when he finally stepped up on the porch. He turned and spotted her, bundled up in a blanket, sitting on the swing.

  Reason told him to get right back to his truck and drive away, but emotion made him go closer. “I thought you were in London on business.”

  “I decided not to go.”

  “Didn’t your new boss have something to say about that?”

  “She didn’t like it very much. Threatened to fire me.”

  He took a couple more steps toward the swing. “How did you convince her otherwise?”

  “I didn’t. I quit.”

  He was next to the swing, not truly believing what he had just heard. “Did you say you quit?”

  She nodded.

  He speculated on the kind of game she was playing. Could it be a play for more money, or a bigger stake in the company? Did she get recruited from an even bigger rival? Why else would she quit something she had worked so hard to achieve? “For another job?” he finally asked.

  “In a way, yes.”

  “Ah, I thought so. I had a feeling you wouldn’t give up that kind of action unless you had something else up your sleeve. What is it? Did a bigger company offer you more money?”

  “No, nothing like that.” She shifted to make room on the swing. “I finally realized my sister is a very smart woman. Much smarter than I’ll ever be.”

  The cold was getting to him as the breeze slipped right through his jacket, so he sat down next to her. She offered to share her blanket. He took her up on the offer and covered his legs. Being that close triggered his body into wanting her, but he kept his distance.

  “Thanks. So tell me, how do you figure Kitty’s smarter than you?”

  “She kept telling me how I always have options, but I never really considered what she was saying until I thought I had to get on that plane for London. That’s when it suddenly hit me. I was going to London to close a deal that I personally had put together for a company I worked for.”

  “Sounds like your job description.”

  “Yes, but I was thinking all wrong and have been for several years now. You taught me that. I can be and do whatever I want—all it takes is warm feet and a backbone.”

  “You lost me, sweetheart.”

  “Do you remember what you said to me that day outside of your office when I was afraid of Cori’s boys?”

  “Probably a lot of nonsense. I might have said just about anything to get you inside.”

  “You said, and I quote, ‘You’ve got cold feet. It happens, but I know you can do this, and once you find your backbone you’re gonna do just fine.’”

  He grinned. “Yep. Sounds desperate enough.”

  “I think I finally found my backbone for good this time. I’m opening my own company. Already started the process, and that client in London? She won’t sign with Allison. She wants to work with me, and only me. Go figure.”

  Blake sat back on the swing and gave it a little push with his foot as he watched the snow accumulate on the porch railing in front of him. He was glad Maggie was opening her own company, glad she’d found the backbone to do it, but all this did was send her right back to L.A., probably as soon as dinner was over.

  “I’m happy for you,” he said, trying to be polite, but feeling like a complete fraud. He immediately thought of what Scout had told him about getting sick on Kitty’s tofu.

  “Thanks,” Maggie said, standing and heading for the door.

  Then, before he could stop himself, Blake shot off the swing and went after her, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around, still holding on to her. “I love you, Maggie, do you hear me? I love you, and I’m not happy for you. Not happy at all if it means you’re going to leave me again. I’ve tried, but I can’t live without you. I want you here, with me, and if that means we have to work something out where you’re traveling for part of the time, then so be it. But you’re under my skin, Maggie. You’re part of who I am now, and I can’t lose you again.” He gently shook her. “Do you hear me? I want you with me. I want to marry you.”

  Maggie went all limp and leaned against him, crying. “Me, too. I love you, too.”

  He kissed her hard, with all the passion and love he could muster. She felt good against his body, like she belonged, and nothing was ever going to change that.

  She pulled away, almost giddy with laughter, but he wanted to kiss her and never stop.

  “Blake,” she said, avoiding his lips. “Blake, listen for a minute. I’m staying right here in Briggs. We don’t have to work something out. I’ve already done that. I’m opening my own company here. I don’t need to work for the Allisons of the world. I can do it all myself, with you and Scout by my side. I’ve come home, Blake, and this time I’m here to stay.”

  The sound of applause spilled out onto the porch as Blake realized the entire gang had been watching and listening through an open window.

  “Can we eat now?” Joey asked once the applause had died down.

  “I think that’s a mighty fine suggestion,” Blake said, as he escorted Maggie into the house.

  As soon as they stepped inside, Blake spotted Dodge coming out of the kitchen carrying the biggest golden-brown turkey he had ever seen.

  “Is that for real?” he asked Maggie.

  “Yep. Kitty made a concession just for you Grangers. Colt flew all the way to Boulder, Colorado, to pick up a turkey from an organic farm. One that Kitty approved of.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “Yesterday, right after I called her to tell her I was coming home.”

  “Ya gotta love Kitty.”

  “Smartest woman in the world.”

  He kissed Maggie again and escorted her into the dining room where a conglomeration of ta
bles were set up for thirty people, which included Cori—who gave Maggie a huge hug—her family, Tim’s parents, the Granger clan and Mrs. Abernathy, who said she wouldn’t leave those babies for nothin’.

  Blake and Maggie took their seats at the end of the table next to Scout, who seemed to be beaming.

  “This is the best Thanksgiving ever!” Scout exclaimed at the top of her voice.

  “And why is that, Scout?” Blake asked, as everyone else found their seats around the table, with Tim at the head and Kitty right next to him.

  The room suddenly went quiet; everyone seemed to be listening to Scout. “Because Maggie came back, and Kitty’s babies were born, and Tim came home from the war, and because I love everybody in this room, but mostly because we have a really big turkey.”

  “No finer prayer of thanks was ever said,” Dodge announced as he bowed his head.

  “Amen,” Blake said, gazing across the table at his sweet little girl who had just managed to say everything everyone was probably thinking.

  “Now can we eat?” Joey asked with his fork in the air.

  “Now we can eat,” Kitty agreed.

  Blake reached under the table and took Maggie’s hand, knowing that for the rest of his life, this feisty city woman with the most incredible Country heart, had finally come home.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt of The Cowboy Soldier’s Sons by Tina Leonard!

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  Chapter One

  We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

  —Shakespeare’s The Tempest

  Shaman Phillips wasn’t expecting a blonde bombshell to show up at the front door of the Dark Diablo farmhouse, but one glance at her shapely legs, long silky hair and beautiful face made him believe tonight might be a lucky night for a lone wolf. “Hello,” he said. “Can I help you?”

  “Hi.”

  Shaman decided the voice of an angel went with her amazing looks. She was way out of his league—and yet even a man with scars liked to gaze at beautiful things.

  “I’m looking for Chelsea Myers.”

  “Ah. The Chelsea Myers who married my brother Gage in July. She’s Chelsea Phillips now.” Shaman leaned forward, out of the doorway, planting his well-worn boots on the porch. “They live at the Callahan place, Rancho Diablo, in Diablo.”

  The goddess stepped closer, her high fire-engine-red heels clicking on the wood porch. “My name is Tempest Thornbury. I met Chelsea and Cat in July, before I returned to Italy.” She held up a small Louis Vuitton bag, complete with tufts of tissue paper coming out the top. Shaman knew what Louis Vuitton was; his sister, Kendall, was a huge fan. “I brought this for Cat. Is there a possibility you could give it to her?”

  “Come on in,” Shaman said, tamping down the wolflike tendencies fighting inside him. “I’ll get their address and you can send it to her. It’d probably be quicker. I never know when I’ll see them, now that the school year has started.”

  Tempest smiled. “Thank you.”

  Shaman went to get the address, and she followed him into the house. He handed her a piece of paper. “Cat started school in the middle of August in Diablo. She’s real happy there.”

  “I’m so glad.”

  He decided his visitor was even more beautiful close up. The hot-red suit fit her curves to perfection. She didn’t wear a wedding ring or jewelry, just some gold hoop earrings that kissed her cheeks.

  “She’s a sweet girl,” Tempest added.

  Shaman nodded, suddenly uncomfortable and not sure why. His first thought was to seduce this angel—what man could resist?—but she was too perfect for him. How dumb was that?

  Ten years in the military, most of them spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, might have left him hungry for female companionship, but it had also left him with scars on his back, a chunk missing from his shoulder and a red slash across his sun-browned cheek. He was lucky those were his only visible scars. Many of his buddies hadn’t fared so well.

  A little less perfection in a woman would suit him better. “Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

  Tempest smiled and turned on her heel. “I was hoping to see Cat and Chelsea, but I suppose they won’t be back until the semester is over?”

  “Can’t say.” He wasn’t familiar with Cat’s routine. “Chelsea and Gage just announced that they’re expecting a baby, so I don’t know how often Chelsea will be out here.”

  Tempest glanced back at him, looking pleased. “That’s wonderful! I’m glad to hear it.” She opened the front door before he could do so. “I didn’t get your name?”

  “Shaman Phillips.” He held the door for her, and as she walked out, caught a tease of a light flowery perfume. “You staying in Tempest, Tempest?” He grinned. “I didn’t realize you were named after the town.”

  She leaned into him, catching him off guard. “It’s a stage name. My real name is Zola Cupertino.”

  His brain tried to process that information, along with the distracting fact that she was dangerously close to him. And he didn’t think it was an accident. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she—

  “Soldier...” Tempest murmured.

  “Yes, ma’am?” he said, out of habit. She must have seen his military bag, and his combat boots in the living room.

  “I just got off a plane from Italy,” she announced. “I wonder if you might be interested in taking me out to dinner?”

  He blinked. “Certainly,” he said, trying to be chivalrous and not sound as surprised as he was by her unexpected invitation.

  She smiled at him, a sweet, slow, sexy smile, her angelic eyes free of artifice, but holding a silent plea. Maybe he didn’t want to see it. But she was still standing oh-so-close to him, and the next thing he knew, he’d taken the statuesque blonde in his arms and was kissing her like a dying man.

  She kissed him back hungrily.

  “Wait a second,” Shaman said. He was a lucky guy, but not this lucky. Angels didn’t just drop from the sky into his hard-edged world. “How did you say you know Gage and Chelsea?”

  “Met them this summer. Don’t stop what you’re doing, soldier.”

  He kissed her again, his mind trying to find the hook in the sweet deal she seemed to be offering him. She could have any guy in the world. Why would she choose him, instead of running from the sight of his scar-streaked face?

  What the hell. A man didn’t get too many gifts in life, and if this angel wanted to fly into his arms, he needed to quit acting like a skittish horse. “Hey, you want that dinner or not?” he asked, giving her one last chance to back away.

  “After,” she murmured, melting into him.

  He carried her to his bedroom, taking his sweet time, being careful with the soft suit and delicate white camisole. Her bra and panties were angel-wing white and breathlessl
y lacy, the kind that didn’t do much for support but everything for a man’s libido. Keeping the lights low, he whispered to her in soothing tones, expecting at any moment for her to tell him she wanted out of his bed. But she let him do whatever he wanted to her, and she was sweet like he’d never tasted sweet before.

  And when he finally entered her, Shaman thought he’d died and gone to some magical place he’d never known existed. In all the dirty, lonely nights he’d been scared out of his wits—and he’d been plenty scared, tough guy or not—he’d fantasized about a woman. Any woman. A soft, sweet woman to take away the pain.

  This woman was a velvet-soft gift from the gods, and whatever he’d done to deserve this time with her, Shaman wanted the moment to last forever.

  Tempest cried his name, and he lost himself in her. She grabbed at his shoulders, and he didn’t even think about his wounds or his scars. He held her and kissed her, savoring her like a treasure.

  Then they slept—maybe for an hour; he wasn’t certain. A glance out the window showed a moon that was huge and high in the sky. Getting out of bed, he said, “Let me shower. I’ll take you for that dinner.”

  She smiled at him in the moonlight. “Thanks, soldier.”

  Afraid to keep the lady waiting, he took the world’s fastest shower, dressing like a madman. Yet he wasn’t all that surprised when he came out and all that was left on the bed was the little Louis Vuitton bag, and a note that read, “Just remembered I have a meeting in town. Rain check for the dinner? Tempest.”

  He grunted. She’d signed the note as if it was an autograph for a book or a photo. “A meeting,” he muttered. Shaman glanced at the note again, massively disappointed. Rain check.

  I’ll just bet.

  * * *