by Marin Thomas
The Cowboy And The Preacher’s Daughter
Years ago, Will Cash wasn’t interested in being a dad. So Marsha Bugler left town to raise her baby alone. But when her father’s health begins to fail, she realizes she needs to return to Arizona—and introduce Will to his boy. Marsha is nervous to face Will not only because she lied, but because she’s never stopped thinking about her cowboy crush.
Will is shocked to discover he has a son. And he can hardly believe the changes in Marsha. She’s strong, sexy and a Ph.D. while Will’s still a part-time cowboy living in a bunkhouse with his brothers. What does he have to offer her and his teenage son? Will has a lot to prove if he’s going to get what he wants—the family he never knew he had.
“I want this to work out for you and Ryan.”
“Do you?”
Marsha bristled but held her tongue.
“Or are you hoping I’ll make mistakes, so Ryan will want nothing to do with me?”
“I can’t believe you’d think that.”
“Why not? If things don’t work out for me and Ryan, you head back to California with a clear conscience.”
The brown eyes staring at her were filled with pain, and shame swept through Marsha. She expected that this father-son reunion would be difficult, but her main concern had been for Ryan’s emotional well-being. She hadn’t given much thought to the turmoil Will might be dealing with. “I’ll do everything in my power to help you both, but you’ll have to communicate with me. I can’t read your mind.”
Will stared into space. “We’re strangers who made a baby.”
“Then why don’t we get reacquainted,” she said.
Dear Reader,
The famous Willie Nelson song “Always on my Mind” was the inspiration for Will and Marsha’s story.
Will Cash has never been able to forget the one-night stand he had with the pastor’s daughter back in high school, and for good reason—fourteen years later Marsha returns to town with his son, Ryan.
Keeping secrets can lead to big-time trouble and Marsha Bugler is about to discover just what kind of hornet’s nest she’s stirred up when she informs not only her parents who the father of their grandson is, but the father himself—Will Cash, who had no idea she’d kept their baby.
There’s plenty of drama in this story and I hope you enjoy watching Will, Marsha, their son and her parents find their own path toward forgiveness and reconciliation. And through it all the meaning of family shines true and bright.
Her Secret Cowboy is the third book in The Cash Brothers series. If you missed the first two stories, The Cowboy Next Door (July 1013) and Twins Under the Christmas Tree (Oct. 2013), the books remain available through online retailers.
For more information on future Cash Brothers books visit www.marinthomas.com. I love to connect with my readers—you’ll find me on FB, Twitter and Goodreads, and be sure to check out The Cash Brothers Facebook page as well as their Pinterest boards!
Happy Ever After…The Cowboy Way!
Marin
HER SECRET
COWBOY
Marin Thomas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marin Thomas grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. She left the Midwest to attend college in Tucson, Arizona, where she earned a B.A. in radio-TV. Following graduation she married her college sweetheart in a five-minute ceremony at the historic Little Chapel of the West in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over the years she and her family have lived in seven different states, but they’ve now come full circle and returned to Arizona, where the rugged desert and breathtaking sunsets provide plenty of inspiration for Marin’s cowboy books.
Books by Marin Thomas
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
1124—AARON UNDER CONSTRUCTION*
1148—NELSON IN COMMAND*
1165—SUMMER LOVIN’
“The Preacher’s Daughter”
1175—RYAN’S RENOVATION*
1184—FOR THE CHILDREN**
1200—IN A SOLDIER’S ARMS**
1224—A COAL MINER’S WIFE**
1236—THE COWBOY AND THE ANGEL
1253—A COWBOY’S PROMISE
1271—SAMANTHA’S COWBOY
1288—A COWBOY CHRISTMAS
1314—DEXTER: HONORABLE COWBOY
1341—ROUGHNECK COWBOY
1352—RODEO DADDY***
1364—THE BULL RIDER’S SECRET***
1382—A RODEO MAN’S PROMISE***
1389—ARIZONA COWBOY***
1414—A COWBOY’S DUTY***
1425—BEAU: COWBOY PROTECTOR
1447—NO ORDINARY COWBOY***
1459—THE COWBOY NEXT DOOR‡
1469—TWINS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE‡
*The McKade Brothers
**Hearts of Appalachia
***Rodeo Rebels
‡The Cash Brothers
To my new sister-in-law, Tammy O’Day Smith—“Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.” Wishing you and Brett your very own happy-ever-after fairy tale—Texas-sized.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Excerpt
Chapter One
Will Cash pulled off the road and parked next to the mailbox at the entrance to the family pecan farm. Lately he’d been the only one who bothered to bring in the mail. Conway should train his twin stepsons to ride their bikes to the box, but maybe five-year-olds were too young for that kind of responsibility.
As usual the box was stuffed. He gathered the envelopes and hopped into the truck, then directed the air vents toward his face. Normal highs for June were in the low nineties but today’s temperature hovered near one hundred, promising a long hot summer for southwest Arizona.
Will sifted through the pile. Grocery-store ads, business fliers, electric bill, a statement from Warehouse Furniture—Conway and his new wife, Isi, were remodeling the farmhouse. A boot catalog for Merle Haggard Cash—otherwise known as Mack to friends and family. His younger brother spent way too much money on fancy footwear, but he liked to look sharp when his band, Cowboy Rebels, played at the local honky-tonks. His fingers froze on a letter addressed to Willie Nelson Cash. He didn’t recognize the feminine script and there was no return address. Before he examined the envelope further, his cell phone rang.
“Hold your horses, Porter. I’ll be there in a minute.” Wednesday night was poker night and his brothers and brother-in-law were waiting for him in the bunkhouse. If not for the weekly card game, they’d hardly see each other.
His sister, Dixie, and her husband, Gavin, lived in Yuma—forty-five minutes away. Will’s eldest brother, Johnny, had married his boss’s daughter, and he and Shannon lived in the foreman’s cabin at the Triple D Ranch. And Mack spent most of the week and every other weekend as a trail hand at the Black Jack Mountain Dude Ranch. That left Will, Buck and Porter living in the bunkhouse on the farm.
He tossed the mail aside and drove on—slowly. The days of racing along the dirt road had ended when Conway married Isi and they moved into the farmhouse with the twins and a black Lab named Bandit. He parked in the yard and as soon as he got out of the pickup, his nephews ambushed him.
“Uncle Will, guess what we made?”
Will walked up to the porch where the boys sat on the steps with the dog wedged between them. The twins wore blue jeans and identical Western shirts in different colors—Javier liked red and Miguel preferred blue. “What are you guys up to?”
Miguel held out a piece of paper. “It’s Bandit’s new doghouse.”
Will examined the crude drawing. “Who’s gonna build it?”
“Our dad said you could build Bandit a house.”
Of course he did. Will worked in construction, so naturally he was the go-to guy in the family for projects involving a hammer and nails.
“We can help.” Javier’s big brown eyes pleaded with Will.
“Okay, I’ll build Bandit a house, but you’ll have to wait awhile.” Will worked for a family-owned construction company run by Ben Wallace—a guy he’d gone to high school with. Ben had landed a new job to construct a classroom wing on the Mission Community Church. The work would keep them busy for weeks.
“I’ll give your dad a list of supplies to buy at the lumberyard,” Will said.
The boys raced down the porch steps and threw their arms around his legs. “Thanks, Uncle Will,” Miguel said.
“You’re welcome. Now go inside.”
Javier shook his head. “We have to stay out here ’cause baby Nate’s sleeping.”
While the men played cards the women sat in the house and did whatever it was that married women did—probably talk about their husbands. “Don’t get into trouble.” Will walked over to the bunkhouse, opening the letter addressed to him. When he removed the note inside, a photo fell out and landed on his steel-toed boot. He snatched it off the ground and stared at the teenage boy.
What the heck?
Dear Will... He read a few more lines but the words blurred and a loud buzzing filled his ears. The kid in the picture was named Ryan and he was fourteen years old.
Slowly Will’s eyes focused and he studied the photo. The young man had the same brownish-blond hair as Will’s but his eyes weren’t brown—they were blue like his mother’s.
“Buck!” he shouted. “Get your ass out here right now!”
The farmhouse door opened and his sister stepped outside. “Willie Nelson Cash, don’t you dare swear in front of the boys.”
“Take the twins inside, Dixie.” She must have sensed his dark mood, because she did as he asked without mouthing off. Will stared at the bunkhouse, afraid if he went inside he’d tear the place apart. When Buck came out, the rest of the Cash brothers and their brother-in-law, Gavin, followed.
“What’s wrong?” Johnny’s blue eyes darkened with concern.
Will ignored his eldest brother—if Johnny had his way he’d take control of the situation like he’d done all through their childhood. This was Will’s fight with Buck and no one else’s.
“What’s got you fired up?” Porter ran a hand through his shaggy hair and flashed his boyish grin—the one that stopped women from one to ninety-nine in their tracks. “Steam’s spewing from your ears.”
“Shut up, Porter.” Will glared at his younger brother. “This is between me and Buck.”
“I’ve never seen you this pissed.” Conway glanced at his brothers. “Maybe you ought to take a couple of deep breaths before you go off half-cocked.”
“Is that what you tell the twins when they’re itching for a fight?” Now that the handsomest Cash brother had settled down and become a father, he liked to believe he was the mature one.
“Conway’s right.” Mack’s deep baritone voice carried over the heads of his brothers. “Whatever’s got you riled, Will, it’s not like you to attack one of us.”
What Mack said was true, but Will had never been in a pickle like this before. His musician brother could write a song about the news he’d just received and make a fortune off Will’s misery.
“This concerns Buck and me.” Will shook the letter. “You knew all along.”
Buck stepped forward, using his broad shoulders to push his brothers out of the way. “Knew what?” Of all his siblings, Buck was the quietest and through the years he’d assumed the role of family peacemaker. Too bad this was one dispute he wouldn’t be able to settle to Will’s satisfaction.
“Remember Marsha Bugler?”
“Of course. Why?”
“She said you’d vouch for her that she’s telling the truth.”
His brother’s eye twitched—a sure sign of guilt. “The truth about what?”
“That after I got her pregnant, she kept the baby.”
The color drained from Buck’s face.
The tenuous hold Will had on his temper broke, and he let Buck have it. “You’ve kept in touch with Marsha since high school. How the hell could you not tell me that I had a son!”
Buck’s pleading gaze swung to Johnny. “Honest to God, I didn’t know Ryan was Will’s son until a short while ago.”
“What do you mean by that?” Will’s intestines twisted into a giant knot.
“Marsha didn’t tell me you were Ryan’s father until I saw her in March.”
“This past March?”
“A year ago March,” Buck muttered.
Will lunged for Buck, but Johnny held him tight. “You knew I had a son for over a year!”
“She made me promise not to spill the beans until she had a chance to tell you,” Buck said.
“To heck with promising Marsha, I’m your brother.” Will’s chest physically ached at the thought of his own flesh and blood keeping the truth from him.
“Marsha never planned to tell me at first, but I confronted her when I noticed Ryan looked like you.”
Will wasn’t buying his brother’s story. “It took you thirteen years to make the connection between me and Ryan?”
“I only looked up Marsha a few times since she’d moved to Los Angeles and Ryan was never there when I stopped by until...March.”
“How good of friends are you with Marsha? Have you slept with her?”
“It’s not like that between us, Will.”
Will had known the answer before he’d asked the question, but he was desperate to find a way out of this mess. “Is there a chance Ryan isn’t my kid?”
“Marsha’s not a slut.” Buck jabbed his finger in the air.
“If she had sex with me on the first date there’s no telling who she slept with before she went off to college.”
Buck jumped forward, his fist clipping Will across the jaw. Will stumbled, then regained his balance and threw a punch that connected with Buck’s cheek. His brothers attempted to intervene, but Will was too angry to care who he hit. He shoved Mack out of the way then took aim again, but Buck ducked and Will’s fist smashed into Porter’s face.
“Shit, Will! I think you broke my nose!” Porter held his face in his hands and moaned.
Johnny stepped forward and punched Will in the stomach. Will dropped to his knees and wheezed. “Are you going to behave or do I need to tie you down?”
His brother would carry through with his threat. When they were kids, they’d gotten into an argument and Johnny had tied Will’s hands to the porch post with a piece of rope then took off. Will had waited three hours for Grandma Ada and Dixie to come home and free him.
“Everyone get in the bunkhouse.” Johnny scowled at the brothers until they obeyed.
After the yard emptied out, Johnny said, “Let’s go.”
Will followed his brother, because he didn’t know what else to do. He’d never felt so lost, helpless or angry.
They hiked in silence until the family graveyard came into view. Johnny sat beneath the ancient pecan tree, which shaded the tombstones. Unable to articulate his thoughts and feelings Will paced in front of the ornate gate surrounding the plots.
“Yo
u’re about to explode. Let it out.”
“Look at me.” Will spread his arms wide. “I’ve got no business being a father.”
“Whether you do or don’t doesn’t matter. The deed is done.”
“I’ve got nothing to show my son. I’m a grown man who lives in a bunkhouse with his brothers. I drive a thirteen-year-old vehicle and the most expensive thing I own is my rodeo gear and my truck.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’ve got plenty to offer.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like being a father to your son. That’s more than you grew up with.”
Johnny’s words sent a cold chill through Will.
“Did Marsha give a reason why she waited until now to contact you about Ryan?”
“No. I don’t have a clue why she suddenly wants to come clean with me.”
“Then she owes you some answers,” Johnny said.
“How am I supposed to look my son in the eye after I insisted his mother get rid of him?”
“Maybe Marsha hasn’t told Ryan the circumstances of his birth,” Johnny said.
“And if she did? Then what?”
Johnny shrugged. “You cross that bridge when you come to it.”
“Damn.” Will punched the air with his fist. “Ben signed a contract to work on the Mission Community Church.” And the church’s pastor was Jim Bugler—Marsha’s father. Ryan’s grandfather. “I can’t face the pastor after I abandoned his grandson.”
“You can’t abandon a person you didn’t know existed.”
“You’re wrong, Johnny. I deserted Ryan when I told Marsha I didn’t want to be a father.” There was no getting past that fact.
“Give yourself time to get used to the idea.”
“No chance of that happening. Marsha and Ryan are spending the summer in Stagecoach.”
“When does she plan to arrive?”
“Tomorrow.”
In less than twenty-four hours Will would head down a path he’d never planned to travel.
* * *
“HOW COME WE’RE staying the whole summer at Grandpa and Grandma’s?”
