Cowboy Bear Blues: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Cowboy Brother Bear Book 1)

by Harmony Raines

  It was difficult not to compare Pete to Adam, who had been honest and forthright, telling Lynn about the feud between the two properties. Did she trust him? Lynn drifted off into dreams of Adam; maybe he was her magic charm to beat off the dullness of Pete.

  Pete tightened the bolt one last time and stood up with a “there”, of satisfaction. “All done.”

  “Great. How much do I owe you?” Lynn asked.

  “On the house,” he said, giving her that too-white smile.

  “No, I insist.” Lynn crossed the room to where her purse was propped up on the counter.

  “Let’s call it a free sample.” He put his tools away, and then slid across the room to her, his voice dropping to what might be called sexy to a woman who was interested.

  “A free sample?” Lynn asked. She couldn’t tell if the free sample was of his personality or his tools. She tried not to giggle. He was a tool, who carried a tool, who thought with his tool.

  “Yes,” he purred. “You need a plumber, and that means you need Pete.”

  “Is that what it says on your business card?” she asked, poker-faced.

  “You are a tease, Miss Hawkins. And I like a tease. So, I’ll tell you what. This is on the house, if you let me quote for the rest of the work needed on the house.”

  “OK. A quote, but no promises,” she said easily. What harm could there be in a quote? Lynn planned to get at least three separate ones, and Pete seemed genuine, if slow, and time-intensive.

  “Deal.” He held out his hand and she took it, his large, work-roughened hand closing around hers. This time, there was no rush of warmth through her body, no tingle in intimate places. Instead, there was a need to get him out of her house, so she could go on with her cleaning, and scheming. Talking to Adam had filled her with energy: he liked her ideas, he wanted her to succeed, and not because there was anything in it for him. Unlike Pete. Pete, who had also eaten half of her apple pie.

  “I’ll see you out,” Lynn ushered him and his tools toward the door.

  “I could do the quote now,” Pete said.

  “I don’t have time, not today. And my furniture arrives on Wednesday. So the day after?”

  “Sure.” He pulled out his phone and put it in his diary, suddenly all professional. He gave her his business card, set up a time for an appointment, and then hefted his toolbox in his hand and left. “See you Thursday, 10:00 a.m. sharp.”

  Slightly bemused, Lynn watched Pete drive away, feeling a sense of peace settle over the ranch. “Good bye,” she said as his truck disappeared out of her driveway and onto the road. Lynn stood still, even after the sound of his truck had long gone.

  Her head relished the space, the sound of the birds singing, the cattle lowing in the distance, and the wind in the trees soothing her. This was what she needed.

  If her parents had given her their time, and listened to her plan, they would have seen she had thought it all through, that she had taken what they had taught her and used it to ensure this project was a success. It saddened her they could only see what they were losing, rather than what their daughter was gaining by attempting to fulfill her dreams, just as they had when they sold their house and bought their first hotel.

  Maybe, one day, they might come visit her and see what she’d achieved. “Which will be nothing, if I don’t get to work.”

  For now, she pushed thoughts of exploring the farm to one side. She had to catch up on the three hours or more she had lost over the broken faucet. At least Pete had fixed it. First thing on her agenda was coffee, and a piece of what was left of the apple pie.

  “Damn, that’s good.” She smiled to herself as she ate one piece, and then another, while she sipped her coffee, and waited for the hot water to come out of the faucet. Feeling refreshed, she took her bucket of hot soapy water, and began to wash the rest of the kitchen floor. After an hour, and another bucketful, or two, of water later, Lynn had gone over the floor twice, and revealed one feature of the farmhouse which was definitely staying.

  The tiles were a deep midnight blue, with small crescent moons set at intervals amongst them. Standing back to admire her hard work, she wondered what had inspired them. Her uncle had never been one to talk about the moon or the stars, let alone choose them for a floor tile. As far as her memory could recall, the linoleum had been down all the time. If the tiles had been here, uncovered, she would have remembered them.

  Which meant they were connected to the Williams family: whoever built the ranch must have had them laid. That meant they had been here for a hundred years or more. When Adam came over later, she would ask him if there was a story behind them.

  Adam. A quick glance at her watch told her she still had an hour or two before he got here.

  If he was bringing takeout, she really wanted to make something for dessert, in return. However, cooking was not a skill she had mastered. Years of living in a hotel had left her lazy; there was always food available in the kitchens, and she had counted it as a perk of the job. Lynn settled for the remainder of the apple pie for dessert and hoped to get the opportunity to ask Adam’s mom for the recipe. She would enjoy practicing making pies, with the apples from the small orchard situated on the southern side of the ranch, once she had a new oven installed in the kitchen. That was if Adam’s mom would give her the recipe; there was a chance Lynn would not be welcome over at the Williams Homestead.

  A small dark cloud hung over her good mood. It seemed unfair that she had moved so far, to accomplish so much, and yet still she was caught up in family politics, and a feud not of her making. It seemed she was being punished for the actions of a man she didn’t really know. Which only brought her guilt back to the forefront of her thoughts. The Williams family had helped Uncle Freddy when no one else had. She could understand how they might think they were entitled to the ranch. Although that wasn’t what Adam had implied. Lynn decided to keep an open mind, but there was no way she was going to be bullied into parting with her dreams; her parents had already tried that, and failed. Which meant Lynn was strong enough to withstand anything thrown at her by Adam’s family.

  It was disappointing, though, to know she might be caught up in a perpetual feud that involved a man she could easily develop feelings for, beyond the lust she was experiencing for the big, handsome man in a cowboy hat. It went deeper than that. When Lynn decided to move to her uncle’s old ranch, despite opposition from her own family, she had always assumed that she would make friends, meet new people, and start a new life with people who didn’t try to press their own agenda. Ironically, the exact thing had happened. Without her lifting a hand, or saying a word.

  While she packed all her cleaning gear away, stowing the bucket by the back door, and hanging the clothes out to dry on what was left of the clothesline—one more thing to her list of things that needed replacing—she tried not to let one nagging thought dampen her good mood.

  As the sun began to sink behind the hills to the west and the air cooled to comfortable, Lynn came to the conclusion that right now, all everyone wanted from her was for her to give up the farm. Her family, the Williams family, everyone but Pete, who only wanted her to stay so that he could make some money off her. She struggled to fend off the thought that it would be easier to sell than fight a one-woman battle.

  Especially since her arms ached, and her back was sore from all the cleaning.

  “Get over yourself,” she said, going back inside. “You’ve been here a day. Wait until you meet people from town, then you’ll see not everyone is against you.”

  As she climbed the stairs, heading for the sanctuary of the bathroom, and the hope that the hot water wouldn’t give out on her, she fought off the need to call her mom. A sob choked in her throat at the realization of where her sadness sprung from. Coming here had dented her relationship with her mom and dad, the two people she loved most in this world. As an only child they had lavished her with their attention, and now that attention had been ripped away, along with their support.

 
Watching the hot water fill the bathtub, wishing she had some nice-smelling bubble bath to add to it, Lynn mourned the loss of her relationship with her parents. Then she resolved to patch it back up. When the house was ready, she intended to invite them over, and let them see what she had achieved, and to show them that just because they had shut her out of their lives, she had not shut them out of hers.

  “And if they say no...?” she asked herself. “Then I will know I’m on my own in this world.”

  Apart from Adam, a niggling voice of betrayal whispered in her head.

  “That remains to be seen,” Lynn answered herself.

  Slipping into the hot water, she closed her eyes and let her mind go blank. She refused to think of the handsome rugged man who had offered to mend her faucet, and she didn’t mean Pete. However, he kept slipping back into her thoughts, unbidden, but not unwelcome. Although the attraction left Lynn scared. What if he let her down too? What if the sole reason for him coming here tonight was to make friends with her, and maybe more, with the intention of stealing the farm from her.

  “Overdramatic much?”

  One thing she did know, she had to stop talking to herself, or the whole world would soon think she was crazy.

  Getting out of the bath, she dried herself, put on the best of what few clothes she had brought with her—a clean pair of jeans and a light summer sweater—and headed downstairs. She was going to enjoy herself, and forget about the past or the future: it was time to enjoy the now. Her long list of things to do could wait for one evening.

  Chapter Six – Adam

  The smell of lemon floor soap and the soft sound of Lynn cursing met him as he stood at the front door of Hawkins place. He smiled and held up his hand to knock, not a custom he was used to—when he used to visit old man Hawkins, he would walk in unannounced. The old fella was deaf; if Adam had waited for an answer, he’d have waited forever.

  “Hi,” Lynn said, coming to the door, her cheeks tinged pink, making her look adorable. Not a word he’d have let her hear, he figured a woman like Lynn, trying to make her mark on the world, wouldn’t want to have that kind of a label. But to Adam, she was adorable all the same.

  “Hi. I brought Chinese.” He held up the takeout and was rewarded with a smile.

  “My favorite,” she said. “How did you know?”

  “It’s my favorite too. So we’re meant for each other,” he said, giving her a lopsided grin, which wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, even if they were the most honest words he had ever spoken.

  “I’ll get some cutlery,” Lynn said, glossing over his remarks, but leaving the door open for him to follow her in.

  “It certainly smells fresher in here,” Adam said, looking around at the vastly improved state of the kitchen.

  “It’s getting there. A lot of elbow grease and copious amounts of cleaning supplies, that is the secret,” Lynn said.

  Adam’s face broke out in a grin. “Would that be a family secret?”

  “A family secret, and a family feud. What an intriguing life you think I lead.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “I have a bottle of wine somewhere.”

  “I was going to pick one up, but was scared you might think this was too … datelike,” Adam confessed.

  “And we can’t have that, can we?” she teased.

  He avoided her eyes. “No. There are no strings attached to this meal. None whatsoever.”

  “I’m not sure I believe you, Adam Williams,” Lynn said.

  “And you would probably be right not to.” He sighed, and put the takeout down on the counter. He couldn’t deny the way he felt about her, and wanted to tell her exactly what she meant to him. Surely she would be flattered. Who wouldn’t want a glorified farmhand as their man?

  Wait. He stood up straighter. From tomorrow, he was going to be heir to the Williams Homestead; he would have something real to offer her. When Jordan formally relinquished his rights to the Homestead, Adam was going to become one of the most eligible bachelors in the county.

  His shoulders slumped forward, his thoughts deflating him. No matter which way he looked at the situation, it didn’t feel right.

  “Hey, you OK?” Lynn asked, placing plates down on the counter next to the Chinese food.

  “Yes. Sorry.”

  “You want to talk about it?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “You’ve just met me, you know we have a feud going, and you want to listen to my problems. You really are a good woman, Lynn.”

  She blushed. “Come on. Let’s go sit outside. I’ve been cleaning this house all day. Once we’ve eaten, I thought you could walk me around my vast estate, and tell me what I need to know. I’m trusting you. So why not trust me? I promise, whatever you say, it stays between us.”

  He shook his head. “You might regret wanting to know.”

  She gave a short laugh. “You have not met my parents. I’m sure yours are much saner than mine. Your mom bakes a heavenly apple pie, she has to be a good woman. Which reminds me…” She turned and quickly crossed the kitchen, taking the pie in her hand, and the bottle of wine and glasses. “Can you manage the Chinese food?”

  “I can.” He picked it up, and balanced the plates and the cutlery in his arms. “Let’s go.”

  “I feel like a child about to have a picnic.”

  “I have not been on a picnic for years,” he said, her sense of fun lifting his spirits. “You are waking up a part of me I had long let go dormant.”

  “The fun part, right?” she asked, tilting her head at him. “Because I could do with some fun.”

  “The fun part,” he agreed. “I’ve been so caught up with work, and who inherits what, I can’t remember the last time I had fun.”

  “I would have thought a man like you would be out having lots of fun,” Lynn said, leading him outside into the low evening sun.

  Lynn had set down a picnic blanket for them to share in amongst the overgrown grass of the back lawn, and when they sat down, it gave a certain intimacy to their meal. The grass stalks, littered with wild flowers that had self-seeded year after year as Freddy Hawkins’s health had failed, were like a barrier to the outside world. Only the sky and bird song could intrude on their small oasis.

  “What do you plan to do with the garden?” Adam asked, placing the takeout on the blanket. “Help yourself. There’s plenty.”

  “Thanks.” She heaped rice onto her plate, and then added sweet and sour chicken. “I haven’t had a chance to look around too much. Not after the faucet incident this morning. It put me behind on my work.”

  “But you got to meet Pete,” Adam said, his jealousy evident in his voice.

  Lynn’s only reaction was a quick glance, before she set her plate on her lap and said, “I’ve been trying to recall the visits I made to the ranch as a young girl. The one thing that sticks in my mind about visiting Uncle Freddy was this garden. He used to tend it so dutifully.”

  “Dutifully.” Adam shoveled noodles into his mouth, enjoying himself immensely: good food, the outdoors, and his mate. What more could he ask for?

  “Yes. The garden was his favorite part of the ranch. He planted it, and tended it. It was his love in a life that must have been isolated and lonely at times. He never married, not that I’m aware of.”

  “No, he never married,” Adam said. “Although there was a woman, she lived here for a time.”

  “Oh, there was? So he did have a little romance in his life, perhaps.”

  “There is nothing wrong with romance,” he said, sucking a noodle through his lips. She laughed. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I like it. I like being here. It makes me feel free.” She tilted her head back and looked at the sky, and he longed to sidle alongside her and kiss her. “As long as I don’t let the guilt creep in.”

  “It sounds as if we both have own family duties. You know, things that are expected of us,” Adam said.

  “I shirked mine, at least that’s what my parents think,” she said. “But what about you?�
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  Adam sighed, and sat up, not wanting to think about his father, but with Jordan due tomorrow, it would be good to talk it over with someone not connected to the family. “My father has certain ideas, traditions, if you will, that he feels we need to uphold.”

  “Like taking this farm back,” Lynn said.

  “That is in his mind. But the more pressing issue is my older brother.”

  “Oh, is he a black sheep?” Lynn said.

  “No. The opposite. An army veteran.”

  “Oh.”

  “Growing up, it was always known that he would inherit everything. That’s how our family works.”

  “Not exactly fair to the rest of you,” Lynn said.

  “Yes. And no.” Adam cleared his first plateful of food and went back for more, noting that Lynn enjoyed her food too. He liked that in a woman. Ranch life was tough, and a good appetite would mean she was strong, and would breed good sons. He was sounding like his father.

  “Explain,” she said.

  “The ranch has been in my family for generations. My great-great-grandfather had five sons, and he figured the only way for the ranch not to be split up and sold off piece by piece was if the eldest son was the sole heir. The other sons had the right to always work and earn a wage, but not own the farm.”

  “I see the point of that. I wonder what would have happened if the firstborn was a daughter,” Lynn asked.

  “It’s never happened. The Williamses have always had sons.” Adam shrugged. “It’s in the genes.”

  “Maybe your genes need some freshening up.”

  “Maybe they do,” he said with a grin. “But the fact remains, all boys. So my great-grandfather inherited the ranch, and it caused some unrest within the family. My great-grandfather took it upon himself to be a little more generous to his youngest son, and gave him a small claim of his own.”

  “I’m liking him already,” Lynn said, placing her plate down on the blanket and settling down to lie on her side, her chin on her hand.