Her Favorite Cowboy (The Watson Brothers #4)

by Ann B. Harrison

  *

  Tyson dodged the quick as lightning back hoof of the paint horse currently having a temper tantrum. “Damn you, Shilo. I’m going to send you to the glue factory if you don’t get your attitude sorted out.” He grabbed hold of the halter and pulled on it, getting the horse’s attention. “You’ll be no good to me if you keep this up and there’s no room here for a horse that can’t earn its own keep, you hear me?”

  “Don’t know about the horse but I could hear you yelling clear down to the house. Problem, little brother?” Chance wandered over and ran his hand over the rump of the horse in question.

  It lifted its leg as if to kick and rolled its eyes, ready to launch another attack. Chance ran his hand up its back and over its neck before taking the lead rope from Tyson. When he had control, he leaned in and rubbed his cheek against the horse, whispering nonsense to it until it calmed down.

  “Stupid animal is all over the place this morning. Don’t know what I’m going to do with him if he keeps up this kind of carry on.” Tyson stood back and glared as his brother.

  The horse sniffed his shirt and they bonded with each other much to Tyson’s disgust.

  “You could probably send him to me but I think if you stood back and took a look at yourself you’d find out what his problem is.”

  Chance turned to look at him and Tyson kicked at the ground, feigning ignorance. “Don’t know what you mean.” He looked away, taking in the beautiful view of Copper Mountain, knowing Chance would be able to read his face as he’d always done.

  “You’ve been like a bear with a winter hangover since the wedding. What the heck’s got into you anyway?”

  Tyson glanced at his eldest brother and got caught in the hypnotic stare. The tension in his shoulders ratcheted up a notch and he looked away from his all-knowing, all-seeing brother.

  “Bullshit.”

  Chance raised an eyebrow, calling Tyson out on it.

  “Mind your own business, Chance. Haven’t you got something you could be doing on your own ranch without coming over here and annoying the heck out of me?”

  “Probably but I had something to pass on I thought might interest you. I can leave it though for another day considering you seem to be in such an unsociable mood.” He handed the lead rope over and with a wink and a tip of his hat, he walked away.

  Tyson’s interest piqued. “Don’t be a smart ass. What’s going on?” Chance kept walking, ignoring him. The horse snorted as if it was enjoying the joke at his owner’s expense before putting its head down and nibbling at the grass on the fence line. Tyson dropped the rope casually around the top fence rail and ran after his brother, grabbing him on the shoulder before he got to his truck, swinging him around. The grin on Chance’s face told Tyson he was expecting to be stopped. Right, real smart ass!

  “Really want to know, huh?” Chance dipped his hat to shade his eyes from the sun but that didn’t stop the sparkle or the knowing smile.

  “Spill it.”

  Chance shuffled his feet in the dirt and casually draped his hands on his hips while Tyson sweated for information. “Well now, seems Layla is coming down to visit soon. She asked if she could come and stay with us, said it was personal, whatever that means.” Chance turned away and walked toward his truck. He leaned back on the fender, a sly grin on his face as Tyson took in the information.

  Tyson’s gut clenched. She was coming back to town? Not one phone call since the wedding and their weekend together and she was on her way back without letting him know. What the hell was he going to do? The image of her naked body in his rumpled bed flashed through his mind. To be honest, the image had never left him, unlike the woman herself.

  It’d been too much to hope that she would want to keep in touch with him. Once the glow of the weekend had worn off, Tyson had felt used and it wasn’t a pretty feeling. Never one to give his heart to a woman too soon, he’d been ready to offer it to Layla Cox on a plate.

  “Like that, don’t you. Tell me what’s been bothering you, Tyson.” He slung a friendly arm across his little brother’s shoulders and Tyson heaved a frustrated sigh, the bitterness coating the back of his throat.

  “I have nothing to offer her, absolutely nothing. The ranch house is crap. The business isn’t making hardly enough money to keep me afloat. She deserves more and she isn’t going to get it from me.”

  Chance squeezed his shoulders. “What makes you think she wants more? Layla isn’t the type of person to go for something if it’s not what she wants. Didn’t seem to me that she had any trouble slipping into your bed for the weekend when Rory got married.”

  “That was then, a fling nothing more.” He glanced at the house and tried to see it in her eyes, failing miserably to find anything positive about it at all. Up until now it had been perfect. He didn’t see the sagging roofline, the peeling paint or the cracked glass in the kitchen windows. He’d been so pleased to be able to buy the rundown ranch, he would have slept in the barn if that was all that was available. To have a rickety old cabin had been the icing on the cake for him. Until now. “Probably a result of too much champagne and the emotions at the time.”

  “Selling yourself short again.” Chance crossed his arms.

  “You know her better than I do. Can you honestly see her living in something like this? I mean, it’s okay for me because I don’t really care, but someone like Layla, not going to happen.” He let his shoulders droop, defeat poking him in the back.

  “That’s your problem. You give up too easily, always did. If you want something, go fight for it. If you only wanted her in your bed for the weekend, why the foul mood now, answer me that one.” Chance patted him on the back. “Maybe she’s found you a bride.”

  Tyson whipped his head around, fear knotting in his stomach. “What do you mean?”

  “You know that ad you wrote up? I got Layla to deal with it so you didn’t get ripped off with someone marrying you only to get their greedy little paws on your ranch when they file for divorce. She’s a little harder on people than you would be and I know for a fact there are women out there that marry for profit.”

  “What the fuck—”

  “Hey, don’t thank me now. I know you were pissed when I suggested you do it, but it worked for me and Rory so when I saw you’d made a start, I decided to give you a helping hand. Look, I’m not going to let someone rip off my little brother. You might not think this place is worth much to other people but it’s what you wanted, what you’ve worked hard for.”

  All kinds of horror rumbled around in Tyson’s gut. The urge to throw up in the forefront. Chance had given Layla his scribbled advert. How could he? Holy crap, this is going to be the beginning of the end for me.

  “You bloody idiot! I never said I wanted to go ahead with that. It was whiskey talk, nothing more.” He jammed his hands in the back pockets of his jeans to curtail the urge to throw a punch. “That was months ago. I figured you’d forgotten about it. I had.”

  Chance stood with his hands on his hips and glared at him. “You told me specifically that you would do it. How the hell was I supposed to know you didn’t mean it?”

  Tyson stamped his feet, the urge to throw a punch at his brother almost too much to hold back. He turned and stormed over to the barn, slammed his fist into the wall and let rip a guttural wail of pain. Wood shattered, the horse bolted down the driveway and splinters of wood pierced his knuckles. “You had no right taking over my life.” He turned on his brother, ignored the blood running down his fingers.

  “I’d hardly call it taking over.” Chance grabbed him by the shoulder, his nails digging into the skin. “You need to calm down and think here.”

  “What’s to think about. You’ve ruined my life.” Tyson pulled away from him and crouched down on the drive, his legs going to jelly. Whatever chance he held of getting Layla to love him had just gone out the window.

  “That’s bull and you know it. You’re being a drama queen again.” He gave Tyson a nudge. “Just giving you a heads up b
ecause she never said I was to keep her visit a secret. Ball is in your court, brother.” He whistled as he walked around his truck to the driver’s door, the swagger almost limp free now.

  Tyson watched him drive away, his mind wandering to the wedding weekend when Layla had dragged him through the front door of the house and into his bedroom. They’d collapsed onto the unmade bed and that was where they’d stayed for the whole time she was there. Only surfacing long enough for food and a frantic hunt for more condoms. He’d been lucky to find an old box half-filled in the back of the pantry that saw them out for the last day. It had been the best weekend of his life.

  And now she was coming back but it wasn’t him she’d called. It was Chance. That alone spoke volumes to Tyson.

  Chapter Three

  “Chance had to go and pick up a load of cows so I got to come and collect you. Hope you don’t mind?” Callie reached for Layla’s bag, slung it over her shoulder as if it weighed nothing and guided her to the front door of the small airport.

  “No, that’s fine. Good to see you instead, actually. I could to with some girl time, and it’s been too long since we had a good chat.” Layla was more than pleased Callie was the one waiting for her at the airport. She’d missed the outgoing girl’s calm demeanor more than she thought.

  “Awesome. So why are you here then, what’s wrong?” Callie put her sunglasses on as they walked out into the sunshine.

  “Forgot you were a straight shooter.” Layla slid her own glasses down from her perfectly smooth hair and perched them on her nose. They walked across the car park to where the truck was parked. Callie threw the bag on the back seat and hopped in the driver’s door.

  “How’s Tyson?”

  “Ah, figured it was something to do with him. The way you two were at the wedding and all.” The Aussie girl gave Layla a saucy wink reminding her why she liked Callie so much. Nothing much kept her down in the dumps for long and she needed some of that enthusiasm to rub off on her.

  “Yes, well, that may be but there’s nothing happening there, at least not like you think there is.” She smoothed down the pencil thin skirt over her legs and looked out the window at the hive of activity around them wondering if this was going to be enough for her after being in the city for so long.

  “Oooh, do tell. Did you want to call into Gina’s and have coffee or head straight back to our place?”

  “Can we drive through town first, just down the main street? There’s a business I want to have a quick look at, then we can go wherever you like.” She did up her seat belt as Callie turned on the ignition.

  With a quick smile, Callie nodded her head. “Done. This is sounding better and better.” She drove out of the airport and headed for the main part of town, and Layla stared out the window.

  Denver was the place to be, or so she’d thought all these years. A city girl born and bred, she could think of nothing she liked better than to get involved in the fast track of life. Her job was high-powered and intense most days, just the way she liked it. Changing to move here to a small family law practice would be a huge wake-up call, one she wasn’t sure she would handle but this child had to have contact with its father regardless of whether Tyson wanted Layla or not. She wouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get to know each other after seeing so many men that never got the chance to know their own offspring and her own sad upbringing.

  Being in the business she was, Layla had seen too many broken families and the children were always the ones who came off second best. She wasn’t going to let that happen to her child. She would uproot herself, start over in Marietta so her baby could be near its father whether they managed to made a go of their fledgling relationship or not. Not that Layla could say having wild sex for a whole weekend constituted a relationship but there was a spark of something there, had been from the first day she’d met him. Perhaps, if she’d nurtured it enough, it would have blossomed into something they could both live with. Not going to happen.

  Now she had to try and explain to Tyson how come in this day and age of women who knew their bodies and how to look after them, she’d managed to get pregnant.

  Callie slowed as she came to Main Street. “Where exactly did you want to go?”

  “Down that way, from memory, near the nail salon they told me.” She tried to get her bearings but remembered the last time she was in town.

  A business was the last thing on her mind. The heat raced up her cheeks and she turned away to look out the window, hoping Callie wasn’t watching her. A sign hung from the storefront balcony and she recognized it from the letterhead on their emails. “There it is. Can you just park out front for a minute? I don’t want to go in.”

  “You’re in need of a lawyer? I don’t get it, tell me what’s going on.”

  “I put in an offer for it, the business is for sale.”

  She heard the intake of breath and waited for the questions to come thick and fast. Layla expected nothing less. When silence filled the cab of the truck, she focused instead on the shop front. The white blinds were open and she could see inside. An elderly lady sat at a desk, her hair done up in a bun on top of her head, her glasses pointed at the corners, the type that usually had sparkly fake gems in them. According to the sales rep, Mrs. Emily Forsythe was keen to stay on with the new owner of the business. She had been there for years and was classed as a great asset, too good to let go. Time would tell.

  “Sure you don’t want to go in and say hello?”

  “Perhaps another day.” Layla turned and smiled. “Let’s go and see Gina and have a coffee. Then I can tell you what I have in mind.” She noticed the gleam in Callie’s eyes and knew no matter what happened with Tyson, she was among friends.

  When they drove into Gina’s ranch, Layla leaned forward and smiled as they parked the truck. “It’s looking so good. Love what she’s done with the front garden, it’s so pretty.” Years of living in an apartment hadn’t given Layla the opportunity to have a garden, not that she had a green thumb or anything but the thought of doing something different was suddenly appealing somehow. Must be nesting hormones kicking in.

  “She’s the perfect, nurturing mother. Great cook, gardener, and baby momma. You should see how big she is now.” Callie parked the truck and hurried out, calling as she skipped up the pathway to the door. “Knock knock, honey, we’re home.”

  A squeal and giggle came from the inside of the house seconds before the pounding of tiny feet headed toward the front door. Layla slid from the truck and took a moment to gaze at her surroundings. Calm, peaceful, and very comfortable. Is this what she wanted? Would it be enough to keep her happy after years of playing the high-powered legal brain? Would she be able to cross over into the motherhood game without wanting to slit her wrists in frustration at going from the hectic life she enjoyed to the laid-back family law practice she’d just passed in town? Only time would tell.

  “Layla, what are you doing here?”

  Before she knew what was happening, she was being wrapped in her friend’s arms for an awkward, baby belly in the way kind of hug.

  Gina laughed and patted her tummy. “Sorry, things are getting just a little bit awkward already. I’m blowing up like a balloon.” She sighed and shared a glance with Callie.

  “So come in and tell me what brings you to town, Layla. Not that it’s anything but nice to see you but, from the look in your eyes, I’d say this isn’t purely a social call.” Gina gripped her hand led them inside where Fisher had been playing in his room, intent on his building blocks.

  He let go of Callie’s hand and reached for Layla. After hugs and kisses he went back to his creations leaving the three women alone in the kitchen.

  “Have a seat. Now what can I get you, coffee?”

  “Please, that would be great.” Layla pulled out a kitchen chair and took a seat at the table, suddenly weary as the rush of adrenaline wore off. She’d made it without balking. Now she had to find the nerve to go and see Tyson. A talk with her friends was what she
needed first to bolster her waning energy.

  “Hey, are you okay? You’ve gone very pale.” Gina looked at her with concern and Layla knew she was right to come back here.

  “Goes with being pregnant I suppose. Although you’d know more about that than I would.” She sat back and waited for the fuss.

  *

  “I don’t know what to do, Pa. She’s coming back to take care of some business according to Chance and I don’t know if she’ll want to see me.” Tyson sat at his father’s kitchen table with a mug of tea gripped between his calloused hands.

  “What makes you say that, son?” Jock sipped at his brew and watched his son over the rim of his mug.

  “I haven’t bothered to call her since the wedding. She’s going to think I’m after her for one thing and one thing only if the only time I show an interest is when she’s in town.” The thought made sense to him.

  “Are you?”

  “No.” He spat out the word. No, I want more but I doubt I’m what she wants or needs.

  “Well, in that case, I don’t understand what’s holding you back. If you like her, and I assumed that after what happened at the wedding, you more than liked her, why wouldn’t you try and see her. Call at least.”

  He glanced at his father and looked away, embarrassed, thinking his father knew how he spent the weekend. “And that’s not all. I wrote an advert for a wife.”

  “You did what?” His father screwed up his face and Tyson turned away, not willing to let his father see the shame in his eyes.

  He sighed. “I wrote an ad when I was drunk and Chance had someone take care of it for me. I didn’t ask him to, he just did it.” Someone. No way Tyson would let him know how Layla was really involved.