A Cowboy Summer (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Salonen, Debra

  A shiver passed through his body. A shiver of understanding. Maybe the reason his mother had remained a blank spot in his memory was that Will resented her for leaving him. Mothers weren’t supposed to die. Fathers did hurtful things sometimes, like bullying their sons or dying in an accident. But mothers were supposed to be there to ease the suffering.

  He closed his eyes and rubbed a pain that had blossomed in the center of his forehead. He wished he could tell his mother he was sorry for ignoring her memory for so long.

  “That’s not the part of your head that’s supposed to hurt,” a voice said.

  Will looked up. “The headache is from being kept waiting,” he retorted. Rising, Will shook Walt Crain’s hand. “How’s it going, Doc? Have you got Saturday’s lineup ready to go?”

  Walt nodded toward the bar. “How ’bout I buy you a beer while we talk about it?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Walt’s eyebrow lifted. No doubt he was surprised that Will wasn’t chomping at the bit to hear the results of his tests.

  Will ushered him to the bar, where built-in video-poker games invited them to insert dollar bills into the slot provided. Will held up two fingers and gave the name of the beer he knew Walt favored. While they waited for the bartender to pour two drafts, Walt removed a folder from his calfskin briefcase. “I have the results of your CAT scan and MRI.”

  “Am I going to live?”

  Walt chuckled. “Of course. You’re not only remarkably tough, but you heal faster than anybody I’ve ever met. Still, if you’re planning to ride this weekend, I’m going to require some extra—”

  Will cut him off. “I’m not ridin’, Doc. I’ve decided to retire.”

  Walt’s eyes widened and he gave a low whistle. “Well, I’ll be damned. You finally came to your senses.” A grin spread across his florid face. “Must be a woman somewhere in this story.”

  Will had no reason to lie. “Her name is Anne, and she has a nine-year-old daughter. Zoey. I taught her to ride this summer.”

  Their beers arrived and Walt waited to lift his glass in a toast. “To the best news I’ve had all week. Congratulations, my friend.”

  Will made the obligatory clink. “Thank you.”

  “Have you set a date?”

  Will took a healthy draught of the cold brew before answering. “Not exactly. First, I have to convince her to marry me.”

  Walt nodded as though he understood. “She wasn’t wild about the idea of you spilling what’s left of your brains on the arena floor, right?”

  The image made Will shudder. “That was part of it, but there are other issues. Her job, for one. It’s in New York. Where she is at the moment.”

  Walt gave him a pointed look. “Have you told her you’re giving up bulls?”

  “Not yet. I thought you deserved to hear it first.” While Will didn’t always agree with the man’s opinion, he never doubted the M.D.’s integrity.

  Walt obviously was touched by the gesture. “Well, I appreciate that, son, but you’re not going to get her back by sitting here. Go tell her.”

  “I’m planning on it. Next week, when I take her daughter back home.”

  Walt reached out and flicked the crown of Will’s head. “Did that last bull loosen a bolt in there? I didn’t see it in the MRI, but those things aren’t foolproof, you know.”

  Will rubbed the stinging spot. “What are you talking about?”

  “Cowboys,” Walt groaned, throwing up his hands. “The kind of courting you need to do is best done outta sight of the children. Groveling and begging will definitely be in order.”

  Before Will could muster a comeback, Walt pulled his cell phone from his briefcase and pushed a button. Will tried to follow the one-sided conversation, but since it mostly consisted of “yep,” “nope” and “okay,” he was thoroughly unprepared when Walt looked at him and said, “You’re good to go. My jet will fly you to LaGuardia. From there, you take a taxi into town. After that, you’re on your own.”

  Will gave his head a shake. “Since when do you have a private jet?”

  Walt brightened like a little boy with a new toy. “I just bought it. My son-in-law is a pilot, so we can keep it in the family. Comes in handy when one of my superstar bull riders gets hurt and I happen to be golfing on the opposite side of the country.”

  He rose and urged Will to his feet. “Now get going. But, just so you know, this isn’t a taxi service. The jet’s coming straight back. I have to be in Albuquerque on Thursday. If she turns you down, it’s a long walk back.”

  Will felt overwhelmed with gratitude. He didn’t know what to say. He held out his hand. “Thanks, Doc. For everything.”

  Walt shook his hand then pulled him into a quick hug. “You were one of the best, Will. Don’t ever doubt it. You had great heart, and you left your mark on the industry. What more can a man ask from a job?”

  A job. Will repeated the word as he drove to the airstrip on the edge of town. Somewhere along the line, he’d lost sight of that simple fact. Bull riding had been his job. He’d made a good living from it. So good, in fact, he could afford to start a second career.

  The job he was hoping for was a multifaceted position—husband, father and businessman. The first two depended on Anne.

  ANNE PRESSED the send button on her keyboard and watched while the e-mail message disappear into cyberspace. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose her jumbled thoughts. The long, grueling day had had a surreal edge to it. At times, Anne felt like Alice falling through a tunnel into a world where the future looked rosy, where every dream she had ever had about her place in business had come true.

  Unfortunately, each tantalizing new aspect of the WHC reorganization proposal held less interest to her than the seed catalog that had somehow wound up in her mail.

  She’d smiled and shook hands when prompted, like a marionette. “She’s in shock,” she’d heard Roger say time and again to explain her wooden responses.

  Culture shock, she thought, picking up the colorful sales brochure that claimed to be “every gardener’s friend.” She could use that kind of friend, not the throng of people who’d come up to her after the press conference with fake smiles of congratulations.

  Maybe she was suffering from reality shock. The reality that she didn’t belong in this world anymore. She couldn’t give this life the dedication she had in the past because its goals and objectives no longer mattered to her.

  Success is relative, Anne thought. Doubling my tomato harvest would constitute success, wouldn’t it? The basket of ripe, red fruit on the page made her mouth water.

  Helping Zoey grow up into a generous, caring person would certainly qualify as a victory. And how could loving a man and being loved in return not be worth more than restricted use of the corporate jet?

  Anne knew the answer. It had taken time for the truth to soak in. She wanted the life she’d come to adore in Nevada. The rustic old ranch house—there was still so much work to do on it. Her beautiful daughter—another work in progress. A.J.—with his wry wisdom and the history he had to share. And most of all—Will.

  A single rap on the door made Anne sit up. Braced for the confrontation she knew was coming, she said, “Come in.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment to gather strength then folded her hands on her desk and took a steadying breath. “That was fast.”

  “Felt like forever to me.”

  Anne’s mouth dropped open. Shock and joy pumped through her veins. She jumped to her feet so fast her chair went scuttling across the room and her head started to spin. “Will,” she exclaimed. “Oh, my God, what are you doing here?”

  He cleared the distance in three giant steps. His kiss was hard and needy, and might have lasted forever if he hadn’t pulled back to tell her, “It takes heart to ride bulls. You’ve got to want it bad. But all I want is you, Anne. I have officially retired from bull riding.”

  Anne was too overwhelmed to speak. “Your dream—”

  “I
sn’t worth squat without you. I’m moving to New York. I’ve decided to sell my land and use the money to go to college. I think I’d like to teach someday.” He cradled her face in his hands. “It doesn’t matter where we live, but we have to be together.”

  Tears clustered in her eyes and it was all she could do to say, “You’re wrong, Will. It does matter where we live. We can’t run the Silver Rose from New York.”

  “A.J. can run the Silver Rose,” he said stubbornly then paused. “Did you say we?”

  Anne nodded. “I love you, Will Cavanaugh. I want to be with you, but only if you’ll marry me.”

  His face lit up. “You’re asking me?”

  “I looked it up in the male handbook. Modern men aren’t afraid to let the woman do the asking. It shows they’re sensitive and confident of their masculinity.”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “You are too much. And I love you.” His expression grew serious. “I might not always say the right thing or do the right thing, but I will always love you, Anne. I always have.”

  Before Anne could reply, her office door flew open. Roger McFinney stormed in. “Anne, what the hell is going on?” he demanded, waving a page of printer paper. He stopped abruptly when he spotted Will. “Who the hell are you?”

  Will wrapped an arm around Anne. “Will Cavanaugh. Anne’s fiancé. You must be the jerk who kept her working night and day this summer.”

  Roger seemed to lose some of his bluster when faced with a no-nonsense bull rider in boots and a leather jacket. He took a step to the side and focused his attention on Anne. “I got your e-mail. Your resignation. Tell me you’re not serious. You’re not going to give up the opportunity of a lifetime to run off to some silly ranch and play cowgirl?”

  Anne felt Will’s low growl reverberate through her. She soothed him with a hand on his chest. “Yes, Roger, I meant every word. I appreciate the faith you’ve shown in me, but I can’t accept the position of vice president. I’ve accepted a new job—chief cook and bottle washer at the Silver Rose.”

  Roger made a disparaging sound and shook his head. “Fine. It’s your choice. You’ll be bored out of your mind within a year. In fact, what will you do all winter? Didn’t you tell me that place was a summer venue?”

  She looked at Will. “Gee, honey, if you’re not going to be riding bulls and I’m not going to have guests to look after, what will we do this winter?”

  The look he gave her could have melted chocolate at ten paces. “We’ll think of something.”

  Roger let out a loud huff and slammed the door on his way out.

  Anne looked after him and sighed. “He’s just upset because they made him CEO this morning and now he won’t have a proven flunky to pick up after him.”

  Will kissed her temple. “He’s upset because he won’t be able to ride on your coattails anymore. He probably won’t last a month.”

  He rested his backside against her desk and pulled her into the space between his legs. His kiss reminded her of everything they’d shared that glorious night, which with luck, would soon be repeated.

  As if sensing her distraction, he lifted his head and said, “You aren’t really worried about Gramps’s business being able to support us, are you? I talked to my accountant this week, and he said all my investments have done extremely well. I promise you, we won’t go hungry. And Zoey’s health insurance won’t be a problem.”

  She cupped his jaw. “I’m not worried about anything, except telling Zoey. She’s going to be so excited it might set off an asthma attack, and I’m not sure A.J. and Joy can handle that.”

  “I called A.J. from the airport so he wouldn’t worry when I was late returning, but I asked him not to mention this trip to Zoey in case…well, I wasn’t sure what your answer would be.”

  “How is that possible? You know me better than I know myself.”

  She pressed herself against his wonderful body to see if he could read her mind. Yep, exactly what I had in mind.

  He lifted his chin and eyed the door. Anne sighed. “I know. Roger probably has security on the way up. Let me pack and we’ll head to my apartment.”

  Anne pictured her apartment. Her quiet, empty apartment. The idea of having Will to herself in complete privacy after a summer of living in a fishbowl held a definite allure. “You know, Will,” she said, handing him a box she’d asked her secretary to pull from storage, “it could take us three or four days to pack. Maybe even a week.” Her body almost hummed from the possibility. This was New York City. Takeout. Delivery. They wouldn’t have to leave the bedroom, unless they wanted to. “Let’s call Zoey now,” Anne said impulsively. “She’s a big girl. She can handle it.”

  Will blinked, as if trying to discern her underlying message. “Zoey has grown up a lot this summer,” Will said. “And I’ll tell you something else I found out about your daughter in the weeks since you’ve been gone. More than anything, Anne, she loves you and wants you to be happy.”

  Anne pressed her cheek to his chest. “Then this news will be good medicine, because I’ve never been happier.”

  He reached past her and turned the phone to face them. “Your call.”

  “No, Will, it’s our call.”

  The look he gave her summed up his feelings as clearly as if they were written in stone. Their Silver Rose summer had opened a window to the past and a door to the future. While Will punched in the numbers, Anne looked at the two framed photos on her desk— Esther and Zoey. Anne closed her eyes and imagined her mother smiling down from heaven. Her mother who knew all about taking risks, but also knew that love was a sure thing when the right two people found each other. The rest was just logistics.

  Anne hit the speaker button and pulled Will into a kiss while they waited for someone to pick up at the ranch. Will seemed tense, where a minute before he’d been relaxed and happy. “What’s wrong?”

  “You told Roger you were going to be chief cook and bottle washer. You didn’t mean that part about cooking, did you?” His playful wink told her he was teasing. “I plan to keep you way too busy to cook.”

  “Silver Rose Guest Ranch. Zoey speaking.”

  “Hi, honey, it’s me.” Before Anne could say more, Zoey interrupted.

  “Mommy, guess what Grandpa and I are doing? We’re making a book from my journal and his postcards. We’re gonna dedicate it to Grandma. Cool, huh?”

  “That’s wonderful, sweetie, I can’t wait till Will and I get back home to see it.”

  “What? Back home? Will’s…there? In New York?”

  “Yes, he is. He came to ask me to marry him, but I asked him first.”

  A momentary pause was followed by a window-rattling shriek. “Grandpa, come quick. Mommy and Will are getting married.”

  Will and Anne looked at each other and made a face. “The girl’s got a set of pipes on her,” Will said.

  He planted a quick kiss on Anne’s lips—a kiss that promised more to come—then picked up the receiver. “Miss Z, take a deep breath. Nice and steady. As soon as you have your breathing under control, I’ll tell you all about it. Are you ready?”

  Anne blinked back tears as she listened to the man she loved tell her daughter that very soon they’d be a family. A family living at the Silver Rose.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-3203-7

  A COWBOY SUMMER

  Copyright © 2004 by Debra K. Salonen.

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual know
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