The Cowboy's Last Goodbye (Grass Valley Cowboys Book 6)

by Shanna Hatfield

  Caught off guard, Ben stared at him.

  Tate’s blue eyes twinkled and dimples popped out in his cheeks. “Her name, man? What’s the name of the woman who’s finally turned your head?”

  Ben straddled the bike and picked up his helmet. “What makes you think there’s a woman or that she’s turned my head?”

  “As one who suffered from the malady of falling madly in love, I recognize that look. You’ve got it bad, my friend.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t think the feeling is mutual, and even if it was, I’m not ever getting married.”

  Tate thumped him on the back with an amused expression. “Famous last words, cuz. Make sure you send us an invitation to the wedding.”

  Ben glowered at Tate before he strapped on his helmet and took off to the river.

  If his cousin, whom he rarely saw, could see he’d fallen for Harper even when he wasn’t willing to admit it, what about the people he was around all the time? Had they all noticed his attraction to the captivating girl?

  Plagued with questions to which he had no answers, Ben rode his bike back on the boat and got to work.

  ><><

  Harper glanced up as General ran to the office door and barked.

  Normally, he didn’t do more than offer a passing glance to those who entered the office as farmers brought in grain or the barges stopped to pick up a load.

  Concerned by whatever disturbed him, she got up from the desk and peered outside. A barge had just lined up beneath the grain elevator.

  Like a child with a dandelion, she closed her eyes and sent up a wish then blew out her breath. Although no fuzz scattered in the breeze, she hoped her wish would come true.

  She opened the office door and watched as General raced toward the water, barking as he approached the figure that swung off the tugboat onto the dock.

  Ben hunkered down by the canine. He rubbed General’s back and scratched his head.

  “Come on, boy,” Ben called to the dog and slapped a hand against his thigh.

  General kept step beside him with a look of doggy glee on his face.

  “You think I have a treat. Is that it, General? You want some bacon? Huh, boy?” Ben fished a bag out of his pocket and removed a piece of bacon, giving it to the dog.

  General blinked at Ben, as though communicating his gratitude for the salty, crisp piece of pork before he gobbled it up and stood waiting for more.

  “You’re turning into a greedy little pig, my friend,” Ben said, tossing General another strip of bacon as they reached the office door.

  Harper put her hands on her hips and feigned an angry scowl. “Are you trying to spoil my dog and get into my good graces?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Ben said, giving her a warm grin. “Is it working?”

  “Maybe.” Harper stepped inside the office. Ben followed her with General close behind him, waiting for the last piece of bacon Ben held in his fingers.

  After he gave it to the dog, General plopped down on the floor and enjoyed his treat. Ben gauged how much trouble he’d get in if he hauled Harper into his arms and kissed her right there in the office.

  With his luck, his deckhand would pop in and that would be all she wrote.

  The flack over his black eye had just died down. He sure didn’t need to stir up any more gossip by carrying on inappropriately with a girl at a grain elevator.

  “Oh, Ben, what did you do?” Harper asked, placing her hands on either side of his head and turning his face to catch the light streaming through the window.

  “I’ll only tell you if you promise not to mention it to another living soul.”

  As though offering a solemn pledge, Harper made a cross over her heart and held up her hand. “Whatever it is, your secret is safe with me.”

  Ben grinned at her and sat on the edge of her desk. “Emily did it.”

  Harper offered him an incredulous stare. “You’re kidding me. That sweet little baby did not give you a black eye.”

  “Indirectly, she did.”

  Harper sat down in a chair in front of Ben and leaned back. “This has got to be a good story. Did she throw something at you? Kick you with her foot?”

  “No, nothing like that. Remember when I said she found a spider in my bathroom? Well, she screamed so loudly, I thought she was being murdered. I ran to her rescue and tripped over a chair, then bounced off the door or the wall. I’m not exactly sure. It happened so fast, it’s kind of a blur.”

  To keep from laughing, Harper bit her lip. Giggles built inside her chest until they popped out like bubbles.

  “Go on and laugh. Trent laughed so hard when they came to pick her up, I thought he might rupture something.” Ben glared at her. “It’s not that funny. She took ten years off my life when she started screaming like that. And how does a body that small make so much noise?”

  Harper went from giggling to doubled over with laughter.

  Offended, Ben stood and held his file of papers out to her. “Sign my paperwork and I’ll get out of your way.”

  “Just cool your heels a minute, Captain.” Harper tugged her amusement down to a manageable level and took a tin of cookies out of her desk drawer. “Have a snack while I take care of this.”

  “This almost makes up for you laughing at me.” Ben opened the tin and took out three of the strawberry jam cookies he liked so well.

  Harper raised an eyebrow. “I was laughing with you.”

  “You can’t say that when you’re the only one laughing, my demented little pixie.”

  “Name calling won’t help your cause any, sailor boy.” Harper didn’t look up as she finished with the papers. She held the folder out to Ben and gave him a sympathetic smile. “That really is a nasty shiner.”

  “You should have seen it a few days ago.” He took the file of papers from her and glanced outside to see if anyone was nearby.

  Assured the coast was clear, he reached out to Harper but she jumped beyond his reach. “See here, buster, it’s one thing for you and I to sneak around when I’m not working, but trying to steal a smooch or two now isn’t going to happen. If someone catches us, it would make things incredibly difficult for me.”

  Ben nodded his head in agreement. Even though he knew she was right, it didn’t make it any easier to keep his hands and lips to himself. He’d missed her, missing being with her. When he knew his route would take him to Rufus, he hoped Harper would be there.

  He’d told himself he just wanted to see her again, to hear her laughter in person. However, the minute he set eyes on her golden head and bright smile, all he could think of was sampling those sweet lips over and over again.

  “I’m sorry, Harper. You’re right. If someone got the wrong idea, you’d have nothing but trouble.” Ben took a step toward the door, searching his brain for a safe topic. “How’s your uncle?”

  “Cantankerous as ever. Between his threats of bodily harm to the guy who delivers our newspaper and the Fed Ex driver, he’s likely to get arrested.”

  Ben chuckled. “Everyone knows your uncle, Tinker Bell. He’s all smoke but no fire.”

  Harper’s sardonic expression wasn’t wasted on Ben. “I dare you to say that to his face. I’ll even pay you twenty bucks to do it.”

  “No, ma’am. I like living too much to do that. Your uncle might be full of idle threats, but he might make good on one if I said that to him.” Ben took a step closer to Harper. “Here I thought you kind of liked me, and instead you’re gunning to have your uncle take me out. Thanks a lot.”

  Harper giggled again and pointed toward the door. “Go on and get out of here before someone wonders why it’s taking you so long to get the paperwork signed.”

  “I’m going, but I have a question before I do. Are you free some evening in the not so distant future?”

  His face softened as he looked at her. Harper’s heart increased tempo in response. “I’ll have to check my overflowing social calendar. Why?”

  “Will you go out to dinner with me?”

&nb
sp; She gave him a saucy smile. “Are you asking me on a date?”

  Ben grinned. “Yeah, I guess I am. Will you go on a date with me to a restaurant where they use cloth napkins, and maybe even a movie afterward?”

  Harper pretended to give it due consideration before releasing a beleaguered sigh. “I suppose I could force myself to endure another meal with you. Aren’t you afraid someone might see us, though? Word might get out, you know.”

  “Fine, if you’re not interested, never mind.” He turned and opened the door.

  Quickly grabbing his hand, Harper stopped him. “Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there, Ben.” She wanted nothing more than to spend time with him.

  “I’ll call you when I finish this run and we can figure out where to meet.”

  Ben’s deckhand chose that moment to walk toward the office, so Harper stepped back and raised her voice. “Thanks for bringing General a treat. That was really nice of you.”

  “Is that what you did with the last of the bacon?” the young man asked, shooting Ben an accusing glare.

  “Maybe,” Ben said, giving the deckhand a playful shove back toward the boat. He turned and winked at Harper before striding to the dock.

  From the safety of her office, Harper watched him, enthralled with the way his uniform fit his muscled body.

  Before someone caught her ogling Ben’s backside, she sank onto her chair and glanced over at the dog.

  “What am I going to do about that handsome man, General?”

  The dog cocked an ear at her and wagged his tail, as if he encouraged her to keep his bacon-sharing friend around.

  Chapter Ten

  Goodbyes aren’t all bad,

  especially when it means I’m

  that much closer to our next hello.

  Ben Morgan

  As she slowed her pickup and turned off the highway onto a side road, Harper studied the pretty cottage home to her right. Trent waved as he buckled Emily into her car seat in his truck.

  Harper smiled and waved back at him then turned her gaze to the home Tess and Travis shared on the hill up ahead.

  She parked her pickup next to Cady’s SUV and strolled up the walk. Lovingly restored, the two-story farmhouse put her in mind of much simpler times. Flowers blooming in pots along the wide porch offered a cheery greeting as she hurried up the steps.

  Before she could lift a hand to knock, the door swung open and Cass greeted her with a happy smile.

  “Hi, Harper! Come on in,” the little girl said, stepping back.

  “Good morning, Cass. Are you helping today, too?”

  “You bet. Mama let me sew the curtains for the nursery and I wanted to help hang them.” Cass beamed as she motioned for Harper to follow her upstairs.

  The sounds of female laughter floated down to Harper, eliciting a smile. “Are you excited about getting another cousin?”

  “I am. I sure hope it’s a girl, though. Shane and Shiloh are all the boys we need.” The careworn look on the child’s face made Harper work to hold back a laugh.

  “They are active, aren’t they?”

  Cass rolled her blue eyes and sighed. “The only time they’re still is when they’re asleep and even then, they roll around a lot.”

  Harper smiled, picturing the two Thompson twins, wiggling in their beds. “So Tess doesn’t know if she’s having a boy or girl?”

  Cass shook her head. “Nope. Uncle Travis keeps trying to get her to find out, but she says she wants to be surprised.”

  “I can understand that.” Harper followed Cass down the upstairs hall, admiring the vintage furniture in the rooms they passed.

  “Mama, Harper’s here,” Cass said as they entered a sunny bedroom.

  “Harper! We’re so glad you could come today,” Tess said. She waddled over to her and gave her a warm hug.

  “Thanks for inviting me,” Harper said. She smiled at Cady, Lindsay, and Bailey as they worked to assemble a crib. “What would you like me to do?”

  “Maybe you could help Cass hang the curtains while they finish with this thing. I would have asked the guys to do it, but they’re so busy with the last cutting of hay. I didn’t want to bother them,” Tess said, backing up to a white rocking chair and sinking down on it with a tired sigh.

  Harper turned to the little girl beside her. “Come on, Cass.” She tipped her head toward the windows. “Let’s hang those curtains you made.”

  While they worked, Harper complimented the girl on her sewing abilities and the cute green and white toile fabric printed with nursery rhyme scenes she’d chosen for the curtains.

  “I love the color scheme, Tess. The pale green walls are so soothing,” Harper said over her shoulder as she and Cass finished hanging the curtains.

  “Travis wanted to paint it John Deere green and when I refused to go that route, he voted for bright red with blue bandana accents.” Tess rubbed her belly and sighed. “Since we don’t know if we’re going to welcome a boy or girl, I wanted to keep everything neutral. We can redecorate when the baby graduates from a crib to a bed.”

  “I wouldn’t mind a room like this,” Harper said with a grin, admiring the built in shelves and drawers, painted white with pewter knobs.

  In addition to the crib and rocking chair, the room had a white dresser and changing table.

  Harper frowned as she studied the walls. “I thought you wanted to put up some wallpaper?”

  Tess grinned. “I did, and even had one wall partially done, but Tee wouldn’t let me finish. He threw out some baloney about me falling off the ladder. To top that, he said in case it was a boy, we couldn’t have wallpaper with pastel flowers and cute little bunnies racing around the room.”

  Cady and Lindsay giggled while Bailey eyed her sister-in-law. “I can see his point, on both counts.”

  “What else can we do?” Harper asked, looking around the room that appeared to be ready for the baby.

  “I have a list of projects I’d like to complete, but I hate to ask you girls to help me.” The hand Tess held on her stomach jumped as the baby kicked. “As much abuse as I endure from this little one’s kicks, I think it will be a boy. You know how ornery those Thompson’s are, even from a young age.”

  “I thought I’d be black and blue from the inside out before I had Shane and Shiloh,” Cady said, tightening a screw on the rail of the crib. “However, I think the Morgan boys do a good job of keeping pace with our men.”

  “They sure do,” Bailey said, glancing at Tess. “Your brother is forever into stuff and nonsense.”

  “And you love him all the more for it,” Lindsay said, nudging Bailey as they sat together on the floor.

  “As a matter I fact, I do. Just don’t tell Brice I said that.”

  “Is Brice helping at the ranch today?” Harper asked as she and Cass started gathering the packing materials that had come with the pieces of the crib.

  “He sure is. Mike was hoping Ben would make it, but he got called in to work to cover for someone who’s sick.”

  Harper stopped folding a piece of cardboard and turned to Bailey. “Does Ben do that a lot?”

  She’d waited all week to hear from him, eager to set up a time for their date. When he failed to call, she assumed he’d changed his mind.

  Each time she thought of the charming, handsome cowboy, she gave herself a lecture about walking away from whatever was going on between them before she ended up with a broken heart.

  In all her life, she’d never experienced anything like the attraction she felt for Ben. Regardless of her feelings, she knew it was foolish to continue seeing him.

  They’d both made it clear they weren’t interested in a long-term relationship. Despite that, Harper couldn’t stop thinking about Ben, about how much she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life.

  Annoyed her thoughts had once again wandered to him, she pulled her attention back to the present. The other women stared at her with varying degrees of curiosity.

  “What?” she asked. Glanc
ing down, she wondered if she had something on her face or had managed to lose a button off her shirt.

  “Do you have a thing for Ben?” Tess asked with a hope-filled sparkle in her eye.

  Harper scoffed, pretending disinterest. “I was merely curious if he works many unexpected shifts. It seems like his job is somewhat demanding, at least from what I’ve heard you say.”

  Deflated that Harper didn’t harbor any affection for her brother, Tess nodded her head. “He does fill in frequently. His boss knows he can call on him anytime. On the upside, Ben does receive more than adequate compensation for his efforts.” Tess sighed. “I know he loves his job, but I sure wish he’d find something to do closer to home. I miss having him around and Dad could really use his help on the ranch.”

  “Ben enjoyed being home for wheat harvest,” Bailey said, glancing at Tess. “Brice said he seemed happier than he’d seen him for a long time, except for one afternoon when he was uncharacteristically grouchy.”

  “He must have a new girlfriend none of us know about,” Tess said, with a determined light shining in her eyes. “He hasn’t mentioned anyone all summer. Generally, he isn’t so secretive about whom he’s dating.”

  “Maybe he met a girl that finally made him think about settling down and he’s afraid we might all get ideas along the same line,” Lindsay commented as she and Bailey held the last piece of the crib in place while Cady tightened the screws.

  “Maybe. It’s going to take a really special girl to convince Ben marriage isn’t something to fear, but enjoy.” Tess smiled at Harper. “We all are blessed in the husband department, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have to work to get there.”

  Harper grinned. “Anything worth having is worth working hard to obtain.”

  “Exactly,” Cady agreed and looked over at Cass. “Did you hear that sweetie-pie?”

  Cass rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mama, I did. But if working was as fun as playing, chores sure would be easier to do.”

  “That is true,” Lindsay said, smiling at the little girl and changing the subject to school. Lindsay taught first grade at the same school Cass attended.

  Harper joined in the conversation, asking Cass about her favorite subject.