by Tessa Layne
She let herself look for Cash, butterflies morphing into a herd of antelope springing through her stomach. His eyes were glued to her. He had to know she was talking about him, right?
She took a deep breath, strumming another chord. “One more thing, y’all. There’ve been a lot of rumors circulating about me over the last month or so. Most of them are probably true.” Her voice quavered as the words sat in the back of her mouth. Her heart clenched at the finality of it all, and she could have sworn she heard an imaginary door slam shut. Doubt gnawed at her as a future she’d accepted as set in stone, dimmed and disappeared. She cleared her throat. “This will be my last public performance,” she said quietly.
A gasp went through the audience. She snuck another look at Cash. His gaze was steady. Strong. And the door to a new future cracked open, its light peeking through like a ray of sunshine. “I don’t know that I’ll ever stop singing. But I hurt myself, and my voice can’t take much more than a few songs at a time now. So this last song… I wrote it for a very special person. Someone I love with all my heart.”
She strummed through the opening chords, letting Cheyenne improvise a counter melody until her hands stopped shaking and the lump of tears in her throat dissipated. Taking her time, gazing out at the rapt faces of her captive audience, she sent up a silent prayer of gratitude, for her life, for her career, for her friends. And then she found Cash and sang.
On a cold and starry night, love came a callin’…
She began to weave a story of love and loss, letting the fiddle express what her voice couldn’t. A bittersweet play between heartbreak and redemption. Of hope and possibility.
When storms rolled in and the dark night came,
you took my hand and you wore my pain.
I will shelter you. Will you shelter me?
And I fly to you – across mountains and valleys,
I will fly to you, soaring on the light of your love.
Stay with me will you be my love?
I will follow you, will you walk with me?
Hand in hand we can build a home laying bricks of love, make a family.
And I’ll fly to you – recklessly with abandon,
and I’ll fly to you, offering my love.
Make love with me where the wind blows free
and there’s nothing to break the light of the sun.
Stand with me in the wind and the rain, on rock and soil in love and pain.
I’ll fly to you, will you fly with me?
As the last note drifted away, before the audience began to clap and before she lost her nerve, she spoke. “Cash Aiken, what do you say?”
In two bounds, he’d joined her onstage, gently setting her guitar on its stand before pulling her into his arms and giving her a toe-curling kiss, which she returned with enthusiasm, tongue sweeping against his as she accepted his answer.
When they parted, he leaned in, kissing her temple as the cheers from the crowd washed over them. “Yes. Abosfuckinglutely yes.”
CHAPTER 32
Three months later
The sounds of Kate’s guitar drifted through the open window. Humming along, Cash rolled the final coat of paint on the wall behind the stone fireplace anchoring the front room of the old Klein place.
It had been a wreck the day he’d carried Kate over the threshold, but he’d never been happier. Kate had brought in a crew to help her with renovations while he’d been off leading Resolution Ranch’s inaugural crew of veterans on the same trek he’d made the previous January. But as soon as he’d returned, he’d shooed them away, insisting on finishing the final work himself.
This was his home, and he wanted to leave his mark on the walls.
“You almost done in there, hon?” Kate called through the screen. “I’ve been coolin’ my heels all afternoon.”
“Just a few more minutes. I finished the kitchen earlier.”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t let me hire the crew to finish it.”
Exasperated, he returned the roller to the paint tray. “Dammit, woman. A man’s gotta leave his mark on his own house.” Technically, he already had. Before he’d left for the trek, he’d spent his evenings at the farm building a fire pit and a large stone patio between the farm house and the cottage out back that housed Kate’s recording studio. But this room was special, the heartbeat of the house. And he wanted to paint it.
“But I’ve almost finished the lemonade,” she wheedled.
He picked up the roller, going over a spot he’d missed. “Fifteen more minutes, play me another song.”
“Fine.”
He grinned at the pout in her voice. “Patience, grasshopper. I promise you’ll love it when you see it.”
“Will you at least give me a hint?”
“Nope.”
“Oh alright, you big meanie,” she said with a laugh. “I’m going to work on somethin’ that’s been jarring around in my head.” A second later, she started plucking a melody he didn’t recognize, humming intermittently as she paused, slowly stringing fragments of melody into a line.
He would never tire of hearing her noodle around on her guitar, of listening to Kate bring a song to life. It was magic. Part alchemy, part craft, and one-hundred-percent awe-inspiring. He hurried through his final touch-ups, then washed the roller in the utility sink he’d installed in a mudroom right off the back door.
At the front door, he paused in the doorway, captivated by the picture before him. Kate sat, feet propped on the porch rail, sundress pooling at her thighs, guitar across her lap, lemonade on the floor beside her. The late afternoon sun made her hair glow like an angel. His angel. Slipping out the door, he crossed to her, and moved her hair, exposing the creamy column of her neck. He bent, laying a kiss on the sensitive spot where her neck met her collarbone. “Sounds as lovely as you.”
She glanced sideways, her mouth curling up. “You finally ready to let me into the house?”
“Mmmmm.” He breathed in her fresh, sweet scent, awareness settling low in his belly. “In a minute.” He nipped and kissed his way across her collarbone to her exposed shoulder, enjoying the goosebumps that rose on her skin. An image of all the ways they could break in the front room rose in his mind.
She pulled away, but only to return her guitar to its case. Then she stood and stepped into his embrace, tilting her face for a kiss. He’d never say no to a taste of her sweetness. Dipping his head, he brushed his mouth back and forth across her plump lips, savoring until he couldn’t stand it anymore. She made a noise in the back of her throat that went straight to his cock. Flicking his tongue across her lower lip, he swept in for a taste when she opened her mouth with a sigh. Sugar and mint. And lemons. Fucking heaven. He palmed her ass, pulling up on her dress. “Let’s get inside before I bend you over the rail and have my way with you.”
She laughed, eyes lighting hungrily. “Even though someone might see us?”
“We’re a half-mile from the road darlin’. We’d see them long before they saw us.”
She raised her eyebrows eagerly. “Oh?”
Her expression had his cock jerking at the vision of her bare-assed and bent over the rail. “You like that idea, huh?” Giving her ass a squeeze, he kissed her again. “We’ll save it for another time. I want to show you inside. Shut your eyes.”
Kate shut her eyes, and pressed her lips together, unable to stop her grin from growing. Taking her by the hand, he led her into the middle of the room then came to stand behind her, arms wrapping around her middle. “Open your eyes,” he murmured into her ear.
His hard work was rewarded with a gasp of pure delight. “Oh, I love it. It’s the perfect color. The color of prairie grass at dawn.”
“It reminded me of your eyes.”
“Aww.” She melted into him, laying her head back on his shoulder. “I love you, Cash. And I love this room.”
“How do we decorate it?”
“With a big fluffy sofa right in front of the fireplace for cold winter nights. And a
Christmas tree in the corner.”
He could see it. “And a stand for your guitar in the other corner. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect.”
He heard the smile in her voice and tightened his embrace around her, kissing her temple, pulse kicking up a notch. “What else can you imagine?”
“A big farm table for Sunday dinners.”
“Who’s at the table?”
“You, me. Sterling & Emma. Travis and Elaine and their kids.”
“Sounds pretty nice.”
“Yeah,” her voice trailed off.
Heart thumping irregularly, Cash turned her and kissed her forehead, her nose. “Any other kids at the table?”
She cocked her head, looking at him quizzically. “I don’t follow. We don’t know any other kids.”
Could she hear how loudly his heart was pounding? The way it stuttered when she looked directly into his eyes? He gulped, pushing down a wave of fear. “What about our kids?” His voice grew thick, husky. “Could you see our family around the table? Alongside our friends?”
She cocked her head the other direction, a half-smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “What are you saying?”
He jammed a hand in his pocket and pulled out the ring he’d purchased in Santa Fe and had been carrying around ever since. “I’m not as poetic as you are, but I want to spend the rest of my life doing all those things you wrote in the song. We’ve built this house with love, and now I want to fill the inside of it with just as much love. I want to make a family with you and fill this house with the sounds of our children. What do you say? Will you marry me, Kate?”
With shining eyes, she let him slip the ring on her finger. “The ring is beautiful. And yes. I’ll marry you, and I’ll be your bride.” She sang the last few words, her husky voice filling the space.
“We’ll walk through life, side by side.” He sang back, letting his voice blend with hers.
“You sure you don’t want to go into songwriting?” she teased.
Laying a kiss on her sweet, sweet mouth, he answered. “Only if it’s with you.”
THE BEGINNING OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER
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Will this Bad-Boy Cowboy reform his wild ways for the woman who keeps him away at night? Another racy ride in the Cowboys of the Flint Hills Series
COMING APRIL 24 2018 – PRAIRIE DEVIL
He’s the Devil she shouldn’t want
Thrown out of the house when he was seventeen, bad boy Colton Kincaid left Prairie in the rear-view mirror and never looked back. Determined to make something of himself, he scrapped his way to superstardom at the top of the rodeo circuit, leaving behind a string of broken hearts. He’s perfectly happy with his no-strings-attached life until a chance encounter with hometown good girl Lydia Grace leaves him questioning everything and wanting a shot at redemption
She’s the Angel he can never have
All Lydia Grace needs is one break. After having her concepts stolen by a famous shoe designer, she returns home to Prairie to start a boot company on her own. But when her break comes in the all too sexy form of Colton Kincaid, she wonders if she’s gotten more than she’s bargained for.
They say be careful what you wish for
To get her boot company off the ground, Lydia makes Colton an offer too good to refuse, but he ups the ante. Will the bargain she strikes bring her everything she’s dreamed of and more, or did she just make a deal with the devil?
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: THE COWBOYS OF THE FLINT HILLS SERIES
Sizzling, Standalone Stories with HEAs, Sassy Heroines, and Cowboys you want to Cuddle
PRAIRIE HEAT – Blake Sinclaire & Maddie Hansen (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE PASSION – Brodie Sinclaire & Jamey O’Neill (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE DESIRE – Ben Sinclaire & Hope Hansen (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE STORM – Axel Hansen & Haley Cooper (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE FIRE – Parker Hansen & Cassidy Grace (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE DEVIL – Colton Kincaid & Lydia Grace (coming April 24th 2018)
PRAIRIE FEVER – Gunnar Hansen & Suzannah Winslow (coming in 2018)
PRAIRIE BLISS – Jarrod O’Neill & Lexi Grace
PRAIRIE REDEMPTION – Cody Hansen & Carolina Grace
Help a Hero – Read a Cowboy
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Acknowledgements
To my neighbors Todd and Blair, thank you for bravely sharing your experiences with PTSD with me. Your willingness to be painfully honest not only with the burdens you carry, but how you’ve managed to cope and move forward, helped Cash come to life. I am in awe of you and profoundly grateful to call you friend and neighbor.
To the incredible folks at Heroes & Horses, your work inspires me and pushes me forward every day.
My heartfelt gratitude to Genevieve Turner, Kimberley Troutte and Kara, thank you for both your encouragement and your passionate commitment to telling good stories. My books are so much better because of you.
To my fabulous designer, Amanda Kelsey, I think I looked at this cover at least once an hour when I was writing. You’ve brought Cash to life for me.
To my assistant, Erin, I couldn’t function without your help. Thank you for doing all the things so I can write all the words!
To Mr. Cowboy, Teenager and Tiny, I love you all so much.
Lastly, to my wonderful Prairie Posse. You are a bright spot in my day. Keep building an amazing, welcoming, FUN community!
