Ty: Contemporary Western Romance (New Horizon Ranch Mule Hollow Book 4)

by Debra Clopton

  “I guess,” she chuckled. “They got married in Vegas and spent the night then headed straight to Earline’s place. He called me from there.” It hit Mia then that he hadn’t included himself in either camp of the falling in love or not in the discussion about his partners.

  “He sounds like maybe his new wife is good for him.”

  “It does.” She turned to face him. “Ty, do you think he stayed single all these years just because of me?” The idea caused a tightening in her chest.

  “Only Huey would know that. Is it bothering you?”

  She nodded. “Yes. He sounded so very happy and when I look back on his quietness I wonder….”

  “Stop wondering. He just got married–he’s supposed to be happy and you’re supposed to be happy for him. I can tell you when the woman of my dreams says yes to my proposal and marries me–honey, I’ll rope the moon with my happiness.”

  Mia’s stomach dropped at the sincerity in his words and the way his gaze captured her. Her heart revved up and charged inside her chest. Her mouth went dry. All she could do was nod as she imagined herself as that woman. Yes, please.

  Oh yes.

  She tried to concentrate on the conversation. “I’m happy for Uncle Huey,” she managed to whisper.

  Ty held her gaze with his and then lifted his hand and gently traced the curve of her face with his fingertips. A shiver of awareness and longing tingled through her like love tap dancing to her heart. He let his hand drift to cup her neck and…her breath quickened…he was going to kiss her.

  Velvet chose that moment to groan–signaling it was time.

  Mia jumped, startled and regret lit Ty’s gaze momentarily before he moved to assist the birth of the foal.

  Mia could hardly breathe and it was a moment before she could move. She gathered her senses like a blanket then willed her legs to carry her to the stall. But even then it was a while before her heart found any kind of regularity once more.

  Focus, cowboy. Ty warned himself as he concentrated on Velvet and her needs while he tried to get his emotions under control. The vulnerable look in Mia’s eyes he’d just seen as she worried about her uncle shook him. Mia had lost her parents at a young age and he’d realized after he’d started helping her learn to ride way back then, that was a part of her that she held back from everyone.

  As if she was afraid she might be hurt if she let anyone too close.

  Now that he thought about it he suspected that might be part of everything she did…and probably was part of the reason she’d never won that championship. There was a part of her that was afraid to lose control and give it her all. But he was afraid too.

  Ty gave Velvet a gentle rub down and then came out of the stall to stand beside Mia. “It won’t be long now.”

  As if the mare had been waiting for him to give the go ahead she nickered and then the process began. He went back to the mare and helped where he could, mostly giving encouragement to Velvet because she had the birth under control.

  And Mia beamed from the stall opening when the colt was finally born.

  Ty moved out of the stall to stand beside Mia once more and over the next hour they watched as Velvet took care of her newborn colt. Mia looked in awe and near tears as they watched the little fella take his first wobbly steps.

  “Oh look at him, he’s so strong.” Her gaze met Ty’s and her smile was like sunshine. “I’m so glad you invited me to be a part of this. I could get used to it.”

  I could get used to you being here. Ty’s heart swelled and he smiled back, not trusting himself to say anything for a minute.

  She watched the colt again. “It reminds me of a time I spent in the barn with my dad as he helped a mare give birth. It’s one of my favorite memories of him.”

  “You never forget something like that. I helped my dad deliver a few foals too. I remember every one of those. I’m glad you have that memory with your dad,” he said gently.

  She nodded. “It’s a good one.”

  When they emerged from the barn it was well past midnight the snow had coated everything in white and still drifted down around them in a soft fine dusting.

  Mia laughed in delight. “This has been the most amazing night and this is gorgeous.”

  Snow settled over her as if she were being coated in powdered sugar and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

  “It has been.” He reached for her right hand and stepped toward her, gently he slipped his other hand around her waist, resting at the small of her back. She stared up at him with an expression of uncertainty on her beautiful face but then, while his heart hammered in his chest her free hand came to rest on his shoulder. “The only thing I think could make it better is a slow dance in the snow with you.” He began swaying slowly with her in his arms being careful of her injured knee as he did so.

  Her breath caught and her fingers tightened on his shoulder. Their eyes held and then her gaze drifted to his lips and every cell in his body ached for her.

  “Ty,” she whispered.

  He swallowed hard. “Is this corny?” he asked, his voice gruff. For him it was far from corny but it was all he could come up with. He’d dreamed of holding her close for so long.

  She shook her head. “Oh no. I love it.”

  “Good. Because I love…it too.” His heart raced as she rested her head against his shoulder and they continued to move to the sound of music that only they could hear.

  You almost told her you loved her.

  Almost kissed her.

  The question was why hadn’t he shared his heart with her? Why hadn’t he kissed her?

  Chapter Ten

  Mia couldn’t believe she was in Ty’s arms and they were dancing–yes dancing, in the snow. She couldn’t help herself, she had to take advantage of this moment and enjoy it, she laid her head against his chest and held on. His heart thundered against her cheek and suddenly she wondered…was he as nervous as she was?

  She lifted her head to stare at him in wonder. He stilled and gazed deeply into her eyes and then lowered his head…he was going to kiss her.

  Instead, he stopped moving. Froze. Then he blinked hard and stepped away from her. “I think it’s time to get you home.”

  Mia was stunned. She’d wanted his kiss. Wanted it more than anything. “Um yeah, right. It’s cold.” And it was.

  Why hadn’t he kissed her?

  She turned to her truck, but he beat her to it, reaching around her to open the door. She slipped into the icy chill trapped inside the closed cab of the truck. Her heart felt that way at the moment. Had they just been wrapped up in the moment and he’d almost kissed her because of that…then realized what he was doing?

  “I’ll follow you home to make sure you get there safely.” He said as she cranked the engine.

  “No, I’m fine you don’t need to follow me.”

  “Yes, I do. It’s really late and I’m not letting you drive home without knowing you made it okay.”

  She’d just almost made a fool of herself because he had to know by the look on her face that she’d known he was about to kiss her and that she wanted it. And now he was telling her she didn’t have what it took to make it home.

  “Ty, I drive dark roads by myself all the time. It’s nothing.”

  “It is to me. I’ll follow you.”

  “No! I can do it on my own.”

  He heaved in an exasperated breath. “There’s no need to be mad—”

  Her cheeks burned at that. “Mad. About what?” She glared at him as her embarrassment over the near kiss turned to anger.

  His jaw tensed but he didn’t speak at first. “Drive, Mia. I’m following you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  He closed the door and strode toward his truck. She wanted him. The whole package. To have and to hold and to be hers till the end of time. “Lot of good that’s doing you,” she muttered then drove toward the ranch exit.

  Despite her objections Ty followed at a distance and when she reached her house
he stayed inside his truck as she got out and let herself into the house. She didn’t acknowledge him being there. She just unlocked the door and slipped inside. Then she slumped against the door and listened to him leave.

  What a mess she was in.

  She moved to the pale blue couch that had been in the room since before her parents were killed in the car wreck. Feeling suddenly drained she sank down onto it. Her mind whirled replaying the magic moments of the night. Everything about the night had been wonderful. Up until the moment he’d decided not to kiss her.

  Reaching down she removed the brace from her knee and moved it. The pain was getting better and the doctor had told her it would be okay to remove the brace after two weeks–if she was having no pain. She’d still be required to limit her activities and take it easy on the knee but that in time it would be back to normal.

  She’d feared at first that it was career ending. And that had surprised her how much she hadn’t minded that prognosis.

  Looking around the room that had once been shared by her and her parents, she felt comfort there…for the first time since losing them.

  There were photos of her dad at the NFR competing five years in a row. His dream for as long as she was able to remember had been to win the National Finals Rodeo championship in calf roping. That had been his focus and her earliest memories of him were watching through the slats of the arena as he sat on his horse and roped calves over and over again.

  Later she remembered her and her mom traveling with him but then as she’d gotten older and was in school, her mom stayed home and he was gone on the road a lot. The night they’d died Mia had stayed the weekend with a friend while her mother went with him to a rodeo in Colorado. It was the first time her mother had gone in a long time.

  Mia rubbed her knee, lost in the memories. She never saw her parents again.

  And she’d felt lost for so long.

  Until she’d decided to go after her father’s dream—Mia halted on that thought. Her father’s dream.

  Shouldn’t she have thought her dream?

  She let the thought brew… Had she been chasing a dream of being a champion because her daddy had died before he could achieve his dream?

  Was that a crazy idea?

  The day before her mother and dad started the cross country trip to that last rodeo Mia had asked her mother why she didn’t go more often. And her mother had smiled that sweet smile Mia always loved, she’d touched Mia’s face so tenderly and Mia could still hear her words.

  “Honey, the rodeo is your dad’s dream. My dream, aside from being his wife was you. I wanted to be a wife and mother all my life and I don’t want to miss out on one minute with you. So for now, I’m very content to stay home and be your mother and let your dad reach for the rest of his dream.”

  Mia got up from the couch and moved carefully toward her bedroom. She had some changes to make in her life.

  And they needed to be her changes.

  She smiled. And for the first time in a very long time a pressure inside of her eased.

  “Man, what are you doing?”

  A rooster crowed from somewhere on the property as Ty pulled up on the reins of the cutting horse he was working. He spun the horse around in a tight circle so he was looking at the arena fence where Dalton and Rafe stood watching him. It had been two days since he’d danced with Mia in the falling snow. Two days since he’d almost kissed her and told her he loved her.

  And each of those days he’d risen extra early and gone to bed late. He’d worked with the horses he had in the stable and added hours on by working with Sinbad. He’d worked until he was bone weary and mind numb…or at least he’d tried for that.

  Rafe hung his elbows over the rungs of the arena. “I know cowboys are supposed to be known for working from sunup to sundown, but, buddy, don’t you think you’re taking it a tad too far?”

  “All I got ta say, buddy…” Dalton drawled with a grin. “…is if you keep this up and stop getting your beauty sleep the lady is certainly going to have a problem with the packaging.”

  Rafe laughed. “He’s got a point. You look rough. What’s got you so tied up in knots?”

  Ty scowled at them. They were his partners but also his friends and they knew him better than most. That meant they knew that when he had something on his mind he processed it best from the back of a horse. Ty had always been more comfortable with horses than with people. The only problem was that his stomach was as tied in knots today as it had been the night he’d watched Mia enter her home and close the door without looking back at him.

  “I have some things on my mind.”

  “You mean a woman,” Dalton challenged again.

  “You aren’t going to let this go are you?”

  Dalton chuckled. “Well, no, I am not. You are a man in love and any fool can see it.”

  “I’ve gotta say that’s what it appears to be,” Rafe agreed. “Kind of gets you in the gut and won’t let go. Keeps you awake thinking about it. And it will keep doing that until you give into it.”

  Ty loped the horse from the center of the pen to the fence. “Okay, yeah, I’m in love. Have been for years but a lot of good it’s done me. She’s back and she’ll be leaving again soon. I can’t stand in the way of that. Never could.”

  Rafe’s brows dipped and he met him with challenge. “You won’t know until you talk to her. Have you told her?”

  “No, I almost did…but I couldn’t do it.”

  “Is that because you’re scared?” Dalton grunted. “You’re not scared of anything. I’ve seen you working with horses that just as soon run you over and kick your skull in. You’re fearless, bud.”

  “It’s different,” Rafe said with understanding. “Let me just tell you that if you don’t tell her how you feel you’re doing her and you an injustice. She has a right to know. She has a right to choose the path she wants.”

  Dalton nodded. “Absolutely. And who says she can’t love you and still make her dreams come true. Lots of cowboys and cowgirls rodeo full-time and marry too.”

  Ty knew what the problem was, Mia had had opportunities over the last four years to come home and she’d seldom done it. When she did come it was a quick sweep into town and out again within a day or two without seeing anyone else. She was like a ghost or something. He assumed that in between those times she spent a lot of time living in small quarters of her horse trailer, which were nice but had to get old after four years. Either that or she was staying somewhere else when she had any time off. And that was what worried him. Fact was, she didn’t want to come home.

  If that was so then he didn’t stand a chance.

  “She’s had opportunities to come home and she didn’t. Do you seriously think she’s going to stay here when it’s obvious she’s not happy here?

  Dalton and Rafe looked at each other then back at him and he could see this was something they hadn’t thought about.

  It was Dalton who spoke first. “Seems to me you’re asking the wrong people. Come on Ty, take a risk and talk to her.”

  “Really talk to her,” Rafe challenged.

  They left him after that, heading out to work cattle before the brewing storm blew in. He kept working his horses needing every moment he could get.

  Christmas was coming and the “do-over” that he’d so fancifully dreamed about had turned out to be just a dream to him. The reality was that he lived in the real world and the reality was that Mia ever wanting to stay in this little town, even for short periods of time, had never seemed to be anything she was interested in.

  So the reality was, why had he even for a minute thought he stood a chance with her?

  Chapter Eleven

  Mia had hidden out at home for another two days instead of going to Ty’s and checking on his progress with Sinbad. She had things on her mind, him included, and he didn’t need her telling him how to handle the horse.

  She decorated her tree with ornaments from the attic–it had been tricky getting up the stairs wit
h a brace on but she’d managed it. She’d found the boxes of ornaments her mother had stored there many years ago. It took most of the day, but by afternoon she had it done. She’d needed the time to reconnect with her mother. To feel something more inside this house than sad memories of loss. She’d taken each ornament out of the tissue paper it had been wrapped in and she’d remembered a sweet, happy time she’d shared with her mother as they’d decorated the tree. And by the time she’d finished, she’d shed a few tears…a lot of tears. But she’d smiled too. And through it all that was what she clung to.

  This house, this home was more than the keeper of what she’d once had and would never have again. It was the place she’d once been happy. She’d forgotten that part.

  The sky outside her window was darkening ominously when she finally turned the tree lights on that second day of holing up alone with her memories and thoughts. Joy, not sadness filled her as she watched them twinkle.

  Smiling and with a heart full of emotion she called Uncle Huey. She just needed to hear his voice. Needed to hear the voice of someone she loved. Though she might not have always come home like she should have, she realized why that was now, she and Uncle Huey had always talked on a regular basis. He’d given her time. Time to heal in her own way even when she hadn’t known she was healing.

  He sounded happy on the other end of the line. “Mia girl, how are you doing? I’m having a blast out here.”

  “I’m okay. I’m glad you’re happy—”She paused, thinking she heard laughter and something squealing in the background. “Is that pigs?”

  He chuckled, then laughed as if something funny was happening around him. “That’s piglets and Earline laughing. We’re outside trying to round up a herd of babies that escaped the pen. Earline is chasing them down.” A loud yelp could be heard followed by more laughter.

  “Oh, I’ve gotta go. Earline just landed in a mud hole and I need to rescue her.” He was laughing when the phone went dead.