Cowboy On Her Doorstep (Montgomery Brothers Book 1)

by Pam Mantovani

  With a blink, Kendall tore her gaze away from Logan’s and looked over at Tammy. His leg, she realized, remained hard against hers.

  “Reminds me of all the times,” Tammy continued with her bright red lips curved into a wide smile, “the two of you would sit in here talking for hours.”

  Logan grinned at her. “At least now we can afford something more than a couple of soft drinks.”

  “Can I have soda?” Marissa asked.

  “Of course you can,” Tammy agreed, cutting off Kendall’s instinctive mother’s denial. “And tonight’s on me. Don’t argue,” she said when Kendall and Logan both opened their mouths to do just that. “Least I can do for two people who do the kind of jobs both of you do.” She tried for a stern look. “Just don’t spread it around that I did this.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Logan agreed.

  After placing their orders, Kendall looked at Marissa. “When I was in the drug store, I saw Brittany’s dad. He invited you to come watch her during her training.”

  “When?”

  “You have to ask Logan.”

  “Can I?” Marissa asked as she began bouncing up and down on the seat. When Kendall cleared her throat as a reminder, she went still and added, “Please.”

  “I’d like that,” Logan answered with his gaze locked with Kendall’s.

  During the next forty-five minutes, they had a pleasant time with Marissa bridging any awkwardness. People stopped by to say hello or offer appreciation for Logan’s military service. She felt that same pride in him; she just wished it hadn’t taken him away when she’d so needed him.

  “I should get back.” Kendall leaned over to press a kiss to the top of her daughter’s head while Marissa scooped up ice cream. “You be good.”

  “You be safe.”

  “Thanks for the surprise,” she told Logan.

  “My pleasure.”

  Kendall froze in her slide off the bench. There it was again, that low intimate tone coupled with the heated gaze that promised interesting private moments to come.

  “What are you doing? You said you would give me time,” she said, careful to keep her voice low and yet surprised by how much it sounded like a lover’s breathless whisper.

  “No, actually I said I could wait,” he corrected. “But right now I’m just telling you I enjoyed having dinner with you.” He gestured toward her prescription bag. “Don’t forget your pills.” He leaned forward a little, looking innocent and yet conveying a heated potential. “I’ll stay with Marissa until you get home.”

  “I don’t get off until late.”

  “I’ll wait for you,” he insisted and sat back. “Be safe, Kendall.”

  The knowledge that Logan would be at her house when she got off shift stayed with her throughout the rest of the evening. When she was called out to provide backup for a disturbance at The Pit, she avoided direct contact with Lloyd Miller. Afterward, as they processed the arrests at the station, one of the other officers mentioned he’d noticed Lloyd standing at the bar while they made their arrests, staring directly at Kendall. She didn’t include that notice in her portion of the report but asked the officer to do so, knowing Sheriff Owens would want to be advised.

  Because of the arrests, she arrived home later than normal. She had to admit it felt different walking into her small, quiet house to find Logan asleep on the sofa instead of Audra reading. With her back leaning against the door, Kendall studied him.

  His long legs hung over the end, and one arm trailed down to the floor. Her gaze followed the arm down to his long fingers and wide palm. She trembled, recalling how his hands had felt on her bare skin, how they’d been rough from his work on the ranch and yet they’d felt so incredibly soft as they coaxed sensations she’d never before, or since, experienced. Would those hands now be softer due to his military service or be marked by his recent ranch work?

  On the coffee table, Marissa’s blocks formed a fortress alongside a glass mug, showing a remaining inch of coffee. There was also an assortment of plastic animals and dolls along with a discarded board game. He was a rough cowboy capable of handling a powerful horse, as well as a defending solider capable of taking a life. Yet he possessed the affection and kindness to spend time playing with their daughter.

  It was too much, the memories along with the longing. As if she’d lost all control, she went to him, sat beside him on the thin strip of sofa that his body didn’t fill. Her lips curved a little. He wouldn’t be an easy man to sleep with. He might have teased her about being a bed hog, but she knew he’d take his share of the bed and more.

  It stood to reason, since he’d taken every bit of her heart.

  Her body urged her, begged her to take him now, to seduce him on her sofa the way she had once seduced him in the bed of his truck. It would be so easy. She might not have vast experience, but given all the looks and kisses they’d shared since his return, she could, with little effort, wake him and have him reaching for her. Only she wanted him even more now than she had back then.

  “Stay,” she whispered and questioned if she asked for tonight or forever. Even if he did stay rather than return to the military, that didn’t guarantee they had a future together. And if he stayed but they didn’t have a commitment beyond friendship, how could she stand by and watch whenever he wanted to spend time with Marissa? Needing time to consider these new thoughts, she nevertheless leaned forward, pressed her lips softly to his. He stirred a little, and, for the space of two heartbeats, she waited for him to wake and discover her. Reach for her. Only, he settled again, his deep breathing indicating he slept.

  She rose, found an afghan to cover him, and went to her bedroom. Alone.

  FOUNDER’S DAY weekend began with a Friday night dance, open to the community at large but also the vendors participating at the Craft Fair. There were also business owners who’d helped promote or donated items for the charity auction to be held the next day.

  While Kendall had memories from her youth of the weekend celebration, this was her first involvement since her return to Burton Springs. She didn’t know who’d approached Lloyd Miller for the donation of beer that was to be sold at tonight’s dance, but it left a bad taste in her mouth. As her department stood to gain from those beer sales, she knew she should be grateful for the contribution, but anything to do with Lloyd aroused her suspicions.

  She fully intended to keep a close watch on him tonight. At the moment, however, she could only stare with bewilderment at the couple necking as they sat on the lowered gate of a pickup under the bright glow of a parking lot overhead light.

  Sandy Rogers? Kendall questioned. With Matt Long? She remembered babysitting Sandy when the girl hadn’t been much older than Marissa. And Matt Long had often been escorted out of church for talking during her father’s sermons.

  Kendall shook off the images and walked toward the event hall. She stepped inside, her gaze searching for any early signs of trouble while noting the requisite decorations, placement of food tables, and the tiny white lights circling each of the eight rustic beam columns. As she expected, Lloyd Miller stood at the temporary counter serving as the bar. With a curve of his thin lips that conveyed more smirk than smile, he nodded in her direction. Kendall didn’t acknowledge his greeting, instead taking another scan of the room. Her mood lifted when she spotted Audra standing with a circle of women next to a table groaning under the weight of an assortment of desserts. Couples of all ages danced, other clusters of people talked.

  “Looking for someone in particular?”

  She jumped a little when Logan’s voice came over her left shoulder.

  “Whoever’s up to no good,” she said. “I just walked by Sandy Rogers and Matt Long necking in the parking lot.”

  “No way.” Logan shook his head as he moved to stand beside her. “She’s only seven.”

  Kendall sm
irked to disguise that she’d thought the exact same thing thirty seconds earlier. “Ten years ago.”

  “We’re going to lock Marissa in her room until she’s twenty-five.”

  “So says the man who left her at another girl’s house.” The day Logan took Marissa to watch Brittany’s training session, Kathy had told Logan she’d be happy to babysit Marissa if Kendall ever had the need. Tonight, with her working and Audra making her first appearance at a community gathering, Kendall had taken Kathy up on the offer.

  “That’s how it starts, you know.” She slid a glance over at him. “Sure, right now it’s all about the horses. Before you know it, they start talking about wearing makeup and doing hair. Then they want to go to dances.”

  She nodded her head in the direction of the dance floor where Sandy and Matt had come inside and were now wrapped around one another so tightly they could be mistaken as one person. Kendall sighed dramatically, enjoying this teasing of Logan. “Then it’s on to rodeo cowboys. We’ll try to warn her not to listen to what they’ll tell her, but it’ll be us that she won’t listen to.”

  “Us,” he repeated in a low tone. “You said she wouldn’t listen to us.”

  “Oh.” Kendall paused, then decided the best way to handle this sudden longing, the way to deflect the hammering of her heart, was with another round of teasing.

  “Well, of course. I’m not about to go through all this angst by myself. You’re the one with battlefield experience. I’m going to make sure you get your share of dealing with teenage emotional blowups along the way.”

  “Kendall.”

  Something in his tone told her he wasn’t about to extend her attempt at teasing. Instead, it sounded like a request for more than she could handle right now. She needed a little space, needed to get away from this yearning in her soul. “I should really move along. I’m supposed to be working the crowd.”

  “Work it this way.” Before she could guess his intent, he had her in his arms and was dancing her into the center of the crowded floor. The music, naturally, was a slow song designed to have bodies swaying close together.

  “Logan,” she hissed as she noted practically everyone staring at them. She saw a few shoulder bumps in recognition of their dancing. She also realized Audra danced as well. “I’m on duty.”

  “Here, at the dance.” He smiled at her. “Think of it as me providing you the means to circle the room so you can see everyone.”

  “So everyone can see us.”

  “There you go, using that word again. I’m getting to where I like it more and more.” He nodded at someone over her shoulder, and when he twirled them around she saw Sheriff Owens. Dancing with Rhonda. “Feel better now?”

  “I’m really not a very good dancer.”

  “You’re doing just fine in my book.”

  She sighed, relaxing a little, deciding it would be better to just go along and wait out the end of the dance. Once again, images of the past crowded her thoughts. “I remember watching you dance with Nancy Rogers years ago at one of these dances.”

  Logan smiled. “I haven’t seen Nancy since I’ve been back.”

  “She got married and moved to Colorado. You kissed her. Right here, while you danced.”

  He gazed down at her, and there was absolutely no teasing light in his eyes. “Are you asking me to kiss you, Kendall?”

  “No.”

  “Is that a no, period, or a no, for not right now?”

  “No, for right now,” she admitted, after a brief internal battle. What was the point in denying either of them the truth?

  His gaze narrowed in the time it took her stomach to dip with excitement. Then he gave her a slow smile—one that had her stomach doing a dance of its own. “I never thanked you for the blanket the other night.”

  “It’s okay,” she managed around a tight throat.

  “It’s been a long time since someone tucked me in. I hope you get the chance to do so again some night soon. Several nights in fact.”

  He was melting her heart with his intimate tone and the look in his eyes, in the veiled promise his words conveyed. She felt exposed, and her entire body ached to have him this close and yet still be out of reach. Thankfully, the song ended, and the crowd began moving off the floor.

  “I should go . . . um . . . do my rounds.”

  He caught her wrist, gently pulled her back. She went, rather than cause a scene. At least that’s what she told herself.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Kendall.” Her heart took one hard leap, cutting off her breath for an instant. “You know where to find me when you’re ready to believe that.”

  Chapter Seven

  THE DAY AFTER the dance, Kendall walked the busy street, thankful she’d been given patrol and not traffic duty. As she’d told Audra, Founder’s Day was popular with locals and surrounding communities.

  On the one hand, she enjoyed the opportunity to observe and interact with people she knew, along with the visitors. She exchanged bits of conversation, gave directions, and offered suggestions. She also had time to think. Naturally, her thoughts—conflicted and tangled—migrated to Logan.

  She’d stood on this very sidewalk and watched him lead the parade. He’d chosen to ride a horse rather than sit in a car. He’d looked relaxed and friendly, at home, but his desert fatigues had been a heart-in-the-throat reminder that he was a solider as much as a rancher. Marissa had sat on his lap. Their daughter had looked thrilled, and Kendall knew Marissa was growing attached to him.

  She walked toward the park where vendors had set up under colorful tents to sell crafts, food, and services. The crowd had grown thick, the path often clogged with strollers, families talking, or teenagers prowling in groups. Stopping for a cup of lemonade, she made her way to Audra’s tent. She grinned at the flush of color on her friend’s cheeks. Success looked good on Audra.

  Kendall waited until the crowd thinned enough that she could approach the booth she’d helped set up the night before. There were considerably fewer bits of pottery aligned on the table and on the ladder-like display Logan had fashioned for her. “I’m not going to say ‘I told you so.’”

  Audra blew out a breath that fluffed her bangs. “I’m almost out of stock. And look.” She scooped up several sheets of notepad paper. “I’ve got orders.” A faint light of panic came into her eyes. “What am I going to do?”

  Before she could answer, someone looking at a delicate bowl with swirls of color called for Audra’s attention. Kendall turned. Her grin faded when she spotted a photographer lifting his camera to zoom in on Audra’s booth. She walked over and urged him to move along. Neither she nor Audra wanted to see her face on the front page of the newspaper.

  Kendall lingered a little to make sure the photographer didn’t return before she notified Dispatch that she was taking a lunch break. She headed toward the children’s section. Here there were game booths, a face painting area, and two carnival-type rides. As expected, she found Marissa in the petting zoo, stroking the flank of a pony. Her daughter had a ladybug painted on her right cheek.

  Logan stood at the fence, his broad back to Kendall.

  Her heart jolted a little at the sight of him still in his Army fatigues. She understood others expected him to wear them for the parade, but she’d thought he’d change once that duty was over. She realized now that he didn’t consider it duty but his way of life.

  He stood with his legs braced apart, hands clasped behind his back, shoulders ramrod straight. As she watched, several men stopped to shake his hand. Two teenage boys talked to him, pointing at the ribbons and insignias on his uniform shirt, apparently asking questions.

  The community was proud of him, respected his commitment and sacrifice. How could she expect him to give up something that had obviously made an impact in his life? He did what he did so that she, this community, and
so many others, could enjoy the freedom they had today. Pride in him, in what he’d accomplished, at what he was willing to sacrifice, welled up inside of her. She walked to him.

  “Hey,” he said, smiling at her. “Wondered if I’d see you. Good crowd this year.”

  “Audra’s sold practically everything she has.”

  “Good for her.”

  With a wave for Marissa, who beamed when the horse she’d been petting nudged her in the shoulder, Kendall touched a hand to the course material of his sleeve. “You look good, Logan.” There was much she wanted to tell him, but it would be better to wait until a more private time.

  “I could say the same.”

  She felt her heart lift with a foolish flutter at the compliment.

  “Can I see you later?” Logan asked.

  She stared up at him, accepting that her answer was for more than a simple visit. “I’d like that.”

  She made her way back to the main part of town, grateful for the solitude. Most of the businesses had closed for the day, so she checked locked doors, glanced through darkened storefront windows. If not for the sudden, unexpected clang of a trash can she would have continued down the street rather than make her way around to the back alley.

  At first, she thought it might be a dog scavenging for scraps. Then she heard the child-like whine, followed by a sharp rebuke.

  Kendall flattened her back against the wall of the drug store and peered around the corner of the building. Her heart jumped into her throat when she spotted Lloyd Miller standing behind a visibly shaking Robbie Patterson.

  “Hurry up, you moron,” Lloyd said between gritted teeth.

  “I asked you to refrain from yelling at me.”

  Despite the situation, Kendall nearly smiled. Robbie had always spoken in such a formal manner, a characteristic of his Asperger’s Syndrome.

  “I’m going to do more than yell if you don’t get this damn lock open.”