Once a Heartbreaker

by T. J. Kline

  Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Also by T.J. Kline

  Dedication

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  Making the Play Excerpt

  Heart's Desire Excerpt

  Rodeo Queen Excerpt

  About the Author

  Once a Heartbreaker

  T.J. Kline

  Edited by Rebecca Lucash

  Cover Design by Tina Klinesmith

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All excerpts used with permission from author, Avon Impulse and HarperCollins e-books.

  Excerpt from Making the Play copyright © 2016 by T.J. Kline.

  Excerpt from Heart’s Desire copyright © 201 by T.J. Kline.

  Excerpt from Rodeo Queen copyright © 2013 by T.J. Kline.

  ONCE A HEARTBREAKER. Copyright © 2016 Tina Klinesmith

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of Tina Klinesmith e-books.

  EPub Edition OCT 2016 ISBN: 978-1539389187

  Print Edition ISBN: 1539389189

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Also by T.J. Kline

  Rodeo Series:

  Rodeo Queen

  The Cowboy and the Angel

  Learning the Ropes

  Runaway Cowboy

  The Healing Harts Series:

  Heart’s Desire

  Taking Heart

  Close to Heart

  Wild at Heart

  Change of Heart

  The Hidden Falls Series:

  Making the Play

  Daring to Fall

  Bookshots (with James Patterson):

  The Wedding Florist

  DEDICATION

  To the “cowboy” in my life who inspires me every day.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Hang tight, Mr. Prescott. I’ll page Dr. McCoy now and she’ll be right out, Mr. Prescott. I’ll page her now.”

  Ty pressed the button to disconnect the call and stared again at the gash on his gelding, Boogie’s, neck. He’d been able to staunch most of the blood flow, but he was left with a ragged mess. At least the vet he’d found on the internet was on her way. He hated that he didn’t know anything about her, but right now he only cared that she could get out to his place fast. He just prayed this was the worst of his luck this week. It had been nothing but one mess after another since his arrival yesterday at his new ranch.

  His gaze moved over the run down house, the nearly caving roof, and the broken front porch stairs where he’d nearly fallen into a raccoon’s den last night. This place was a disaster. Nothing like the “diamond in the rough” his real estate agent had sworn it was.

  A dump in the rough is more like it.

  He’d spent the last thirteen years beating his body to a bloody pulp on the rodeo circuit to finally save up enough for his own ranch. When this one had come on the market unexpectedly, he’d jumped at the chance to buy it. Saddle Creek held fond memories for him, even if his original arrival in town, nearly sixteen years ago now, had been preceded by a court order. The Saddle Creek Boys’ Ranch had quickly turned into home, especially since its owner, John Stone, had been the only one willing to give him a chance.

  Well, John and Rayne.

  Ty clenched his jaw and tried to push away the memories of the young woman who’d spent far too many days with him and the other delinquents at John’s place, just a few miles up the road from his new ranch. Looking back now, he wondered if the old man hadn’t been crazy for letting her hang around them, but, even now, Ty didn’t regret the time he’d spent with her. That girl had challenged a group of troubled young men to step up and become better, to turn their anger into something productive. Maybe that was why the old man had let her return, day after day. Rayne, like John, had a way of drawing the best out of each of them.

  Until you broke her heart.

  Ty pushed away the memory of the sadness in her blue eyes when he’d told her he didn’t love her. There was no sense reliving the moment. He’d thought about that night almost every day since it happened. He ran a hand over the gelding’s neck, a gesture that was more to calm himself than the horse, who stood complacently still. But he’d returned to right his past wrongs. At the very least, to put his guilt over what he’d said to Rayne to bed.

  The first thing he needed to do was to go see John. The old man had always been handy with a hammer and this place needed more than just a little TLC. It needed a complete overhaul. Maybe Ty would swing by the boys’ ranch and see if John had any suggestions for him on how to get things in order. He could certainly use John’s wisdom when he was ready to reach out to Rayne.

  The sound of tires on the long gravel driveway drew Ty’s attention, and he watched as a white pickup made its way toward the corral. He held the side of Boogie’s halter, glancing back at the gelding’s wounded neck as the veterinarian parked and climbed out of the driver’s side of the vehicle.

  “I’m sorry to call you out so early on a Sunday, but this dork got a little too rambunctious. Guess rodeo horses aren’t necessarily the smartest.”

  “I’d say the same goes for rodeo cowboys as well.”

  Ty’s gaze lifted to see the woman from his thoughts walk into the corral. So much for the hope that his luck would improve.

  Rayne McCoy would have been perfectly happy to live out the rest of her life in Saddle Creek without seeing Ty Prescott again. Maybe that wasn’t exactly true, but after he’d walked away from her the summer after their high school graduation, leaving behind an engagement ring on her finger and a broken heart in her chest, she’d done her best to forget he ever existed. It might have been easier if he hadn’t earned local rodeo celebrity status as a four-time All-Around Cowboy.

  Every diner, feed store and doctor’s office in town had posters of him on their walls and, once they’d heard the rumor that he’d be returning to Saddle Creek, the speculation as to why hadn’t stopped. It was just her bad luck that he’d purchased the run-down property half a mile from the clinic she’d opened after her divorce three years ago.

  Funny how the only time she heard Ty’s name nowadays was when people bragged about how they knew him. Most of them hadn’t wanted their names associated with Ty’s back when he’d first come to town at all. Back when he was just another troubled kid from the wrong side of the tracks that ended up at “that boys’ ranch ole John had.” But she hadn’t cared about his past, or why he’d come to town. She had her own troubles, and he made her forget them. It had been easy to fall for Ty, the sweet-talking city boy with a chip on his shoulder. The young man who’d held her when her father gave her a black eye and she was too embarrassed to go to school. The boy who’d promised her, at sixteen, that he’d always protect her. She’d been too naïve, too in love with him, to believe he’d betray her trust. Until the day he did.

  She walked the
short distance across the driveway to where he waited with the horse in the rundown corral. She was amazed it had kept the horse in at all since half of the panels were broken.

  His gaze slid over her, slowly, practically caressing her until his dark brown eyes met hers. A cocky grin tugged at the corner of his mouth, making a dimple crease deeply into his tanned cheek. “I’ll be damned.”

  No such luck.

  His voice was low and husky—sexy as hell—but slightly confused, as if her presence there had caught him off-guard.

  Good. He should feel uncomfortable facing her after what he’d done.

  You were kids, her more rational side reminded her. You both did some pretty stupid things. Like bridge jumping, or the night you snuck out to sleep under the stars in the ravine where they’d just seen a mountain lion. You were willing to risk life and limb, literally, to be with Ty.

  Yeah, and look how well that turned out, she argued with herself.

  “Rayne Peterson.” Ty shook his head and ran a hand over the sleek brown shoulder of the bay gelding. His hand covered hers, resting on the gelding’s withers, and electricity shot up her arm, sparking heat that burned to her core. “I thought they were sending out the vet?”

  Rayne quickly removed her hand from beneath his fingers. “I am the vet.”

  She moved around him, toward the horse’s head, letting the animal sniff at her as she ignored Ty and inspected the horse, checking for any signs of blood loss. His eyes were alert and he appeared to be in good health other than the gash on his neck. She gently moved her fingers over the muscle around the cut, checking for swelling as she tugged her stethoscope from around her neck and pressed it to the gelding’s side.

  “And it’s Dr. McCoy now.”

  She saw emotion flicker in the depths of his eyes, but she didn’t want to try to even figure out what it might be, and tried to convince herself she didn’t care. He’d made his choices and, whether they’d been good or bad, so had she.

  After the heartbreak she’d suffered at Ty’s hands, she’d vowed to never fall for another “bad boy” and, instead, had run right into the arms of a man who was the complete opposite. Winston McCoy – a self-professed geek and computer whiz, brilliant in his work with animals and technology, but apparently not savvy enough to conceal the text messages from his mistress, their then vet assistant. Or, maybe at that point, he just hadn’t cared enough to bother. Any more than she’d cared when she found out. The divorce for a marriage that should never have happened had been swift, and she’d added as just another mistake to the pile of memories from her past she wanted to pretend had never existed. But that wasn’t any of Ty’s business.

  He opened his mouth to speak but she held up a finger, indicating he should wait until she finished listening to the animal’s lung and gut sounds. It gave her a measure of satisfaction that he was forced to follow her orders, to be the one calling the shots with him for a change. She stood upright and wrapped the instrument around the back of her neck again.

  “Anything other than the cut? Fever?”

  “I haven’t taken his temp, so I don’t know.”

  She ran a hand over the gelding’s rump as she lifted his tail and took his temperature. “How’d it happen?”

  “Like I said when I called, he ran through the fence and cut himself. I cleaned it up as best I could, but figured it was going to need some stitches.” His eyes never strayed from her face, and she could feel the heat rising up her neck, into her cheeks. She ducked her head and moved back toward the gelding’s shoulder, putting her toe-to-toe with Ty.

  She tried to ignore the way his dark hair still fell in waves over his forehead, and how much she wanted to brush the too-long locks back. And the way he still smelled like soap and leather, which made her want to bury her face in his chest and inhale deeply. And the way he met her gaze, as if he could read her most wicked fantasies. Rayne’s heart fluttered against her ribs when her gaze met his as attraction rushed through her. It annoyed her that after all this time, some things still hadn’t changed. He could still cause her heart to skip, and could still make desire swirl through her body from just the heat in his gaze. Reality had always ceased to exist when she was near Ty, like the Earth quit spinning and time stood still.

  You know…” Ty paused, as if unsure what to say. Then his eyes darkened even further, practically begging her to lose herself in them. “You look good, Rayne,” he finally finished.

  The rasp in his voice made her bones melt, reminding her of the nights they’d made love under the stars, the looks that seemed to make their souls connect. The promises made, only to be broken later.

  You’re over him. You’ve moved on, remember?

  Except standing so close to him now, feeling the heat of his stare, it didn’t feel that way. Rejection wound a band around her chest, making her feel the same way she had the day he’d left her behind. The day he’d told her that he didn’t want a girl following him from rodeo to rodeo when there were so many real women vying for his attention. The day he told her he didn’t love her and that he never had.

  This was ridiculous. She was a grown-ass woman and not a horny teenager. Rayne clenched her jaw, trying to ignore the hurt that rose up, tightening her throat, making breathing difficult and any witty retort she might want to throw his way impossible. She focused on the horse again, inspecting the wound for infection. It was the reason she was here, and she was a professional, damn it.

  He might be an ass of an ex-fiancé, but he was good at cleaning wounds.

  “I just need to get my tools from the truck,” she muttered. She wanted to get away from those penetrating eyes as quickly as possible.

  Ty hadn’t missed the agony reflected in Rayne’s eyes. Nearly twelve years had passed since the day he’d walked away from her, but time hadn’t healed the wound he’d caused the way he’d hoped it had. The look in her eyes and the way she’d quickly brushed him off made that fact abundantly clear.

  He looped Boogie’s lead rope over the post and followed her to her truck, desperately trying to figure out a way to apologize for the past, to explain why he’d done what he had, but he knew there was no real explanation. Not one that would make sense at this stage in their lives, anyway. She’d loved him, and he’d hurt her. She’d rushed to be by his side when he was injured in a rodeo event, and he’d pushed her away, saying things he knew would make her stop loving him. But he’d had no other options at the time. At least, not any his young, stupid mind had come up with.

  Besides, she was Dr. McCoy now. There had to be a Mr. McCoy. She’d moved on.

  “So?” He drew the word out, unsure how to broach the subject of their past. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

  She rolled her eyes but didn’t even bother to turn his direction. “Not long enough.”

  He rolled his lips inward, trying to keep from smiling. Same smart mouth, as always. He glanced at her hand, but there was no ring on her finger. He felt his curiosity piqued but quickly tamped it back down. It was likely she just didn’t wear it when she was working. It wasn’t easy to palpate a cow with a rock on one hand.

  “You made it to vet school, huh?”

  She turned toward him this time, her eyes flashing with annoyance. “How very observant of you, Ty. Do you have any other brilliant deductions to impress me with or can I do what I’m here to do?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the side of the truck as she retrieved a syringe. “I understand if you’re not exactly happy to see me, Rayne.”

  She walked back to where the horse was tied. “What would ever give you that impression, Ty? Doesn’t every woman want to spend time with her ex, especially when said ex proved himself to be a giant horse’s ass? Just let me do my job, okay?”

  He held up his hands in front of him, palms out, but wandered back to hold Boogie’s head as she administered the sedative. “I’m sure I deserve that.”

  “You think?”

  He knew he dese
rved every bit of the animosity she was tossing at him but, shit, it’d been twelve years. That was a long time to hold on to this much bitterness. He definitely owed her an apology for the way he’d gone about things, but Rayne had never been one to hold a grudge. What happened to the young woman he remembered? She’d been serious, but she had a smile that would dazzle the stars from the sky and a laugh that would make you feel ten pounds lighter just hearing it. The woman in front of him was all business. She might look like his Rayne, but she didn’t act like her in the slightest.

  Ty wasn’t going to give up easily and gave her his most winning smile, the one that never seemed to fail to charm, whether he was trying to beg for forgiveness or bed a woman.

  “Do you really think that’ll work?” She glared at him before inserting the suture needle into his gelding’s neck to begin stitching the wound. “Why did you even bother coming back, Ty? I’m sure there were far more interesting places for you to settle down.”

  He heard the unspoken words in her tone—places far from Saddle Creek.

  “This is home.”

  The guffaw that burst from her surprised him. “Since when?” She shook her head as she tied off the stitches. “You got as far from here as you could, as quickly as possible. Don’t act like you’ve ever looked back.”

  Surprised by the intensity of her resentment, Ty’s brows shot high on his forehead. Whether she wanted to believe him or not, this was the only place he considered home. The simple fact was that Saddle Creek was the only place with anyone that he could call family. His blood relatives were long gone, but Rayne and John were here, and that was enough for him to want to return. The simple fact was that, thanks to John, he’d turned his life around and achieved more than he’d ever thought possible.

  “Like it or not, Rayne, I’m here to stay. My roots in Saddle Creek go deeper than you think.”