The Heart of a Cowboy

by Trish Milburn

  She shook her head as she parked then grabbed the emergency medical kit she kept with her at all times. She never knew when she might come upon an animal in need, whether it was livestock, pet or wildlife. She cared for all of their welfare equally.

  Not taking time to retrieve her rain gear, she hopped out of the truck and crossed to where Garrett stood next to the beautiful animal.

  “I didn’t know whether to move her,” he said without preamble. He nodded toward the barn. “We had a fire, but it’s out now.”

  She stepped close to the mare, shushing her when she tried to sidestep away. Running her hand along the same stretch of neck that Garrett had moments earlier, she said, “There’s a good girl.” She examined the injury as best she could in the dim light. “Bring her inside, but carefully. Try not to let her move any more than she has to.”

  Natalie led the way inside the barn, which smelled like a combination of hay, rain and smoke. She glanced up to where the back part of the building’s roof now sported a hole that would make the last two stalls unusable until repairs were made. Of course, one of those stalls also had damage of its own that had nothing to do with the roof damage. She had no doubt that the injured horse had been the one to splinter the wood on the front of the stall.

  She pointed toward the smallest stall near the front of the barn. “Put her in there.”

  “Won’t give you much room to work.”

  “Also won’t give her room to kick me into next week.”

  Natalie stayed clear until Garrett managed to get the animal into the stall. He did his best to soothe the mare, but she still didn’t go into the stall willingly.

  “Be careful,” he said when Natalie stepped into the stall. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  She eased her hand along the horse’s side, gradually moving toward the spot where the sizable sliver of wood was protruding. “Try to keep her as calm as you can. Keep talking to her, draw her attention that direction.”

  Natalie went into a familiar autopilot mode, opening her bag of veterinary supplies and prepping everything she’d need. When she was ready to remove the mother of all splinters, she caught Garrett’s eye across the mare’s back. “Get ready. I’m going to pull out our offender.”

  Thankfully, the wood hadn’t gone too deep into the horse’s flesh, but that didn’t make much difference to the mare’s reaction when Natalie jerked it out. The animal threw her head back, showing her teeth, and sidestepped so suddenly that she slammed Natalie against the side of the stall.

  “You okay?” Garrett sounded so concerned that the lump made a return appearance in her throat.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Deliberately not making eye contact with him, she went to work cleaning the wound, disinfecting and closing it up. “What’s this girl’s name anyway?”

  “Penelope.”

  “Interesting name for a horse.”

  “Chloe named it after a character in one of her favorite movies.”

  Before she could stop herself, she glanced toward Garrett and found him watching her. Even looking as if he’d been dumped in the lake, he still took her breath away. For a moment she forgot what she’d been about to say. It took forcing herself to break eye contact to get her brain functioning again. “The movie Penelope?”

  “Yeah. She’s probably seen that movie a hundred times.”

  “It’s a good one.” In fact, it was one of Natalie’s favorites, too. But instead of making her happy that she and her childhood friend still obviously had things in common, a heavy sadness welled up in her. She’d missed so much of Chloe’s life, so many adventures they might have had together if her father had simply not gotten in his car that night.

  She shoved away that thought because she needed to concentrate on her task. When she finally finished, she caressed the side of Penelope’s face and scratched between her ears. “Good girl. You’ve had a rough night, huh?”

  Seemingly calmer than she’d been since Natalie arrived, Penelope turned her head and nuzzled Natalie’s face.

  “Well, wonders never cease.”

  Natalie glanced toward the stall’s door and saw Garrett’s dad standing there with his forearms propped along the top of the door. Her heart ached in her chest. He looked so much older than she remembered. Even though that made perfect sense, the realization also made her sad.

  When he looked at her and smiled, she had to fight tears.

  “When Garrett told me you were in town and you were a vet, I couldn’t believe it.” He shook his head slowly. “You’re not that little girl I remember.”

  She made herself smile back. “Not for a long time.”

  “Lot’s changed since those days.” He nodded toward Penelope. “Looks like you could give Dr. Franklin a run for his money.”

  “So he’s really still the vet here?”

  “Yep.”

  As she packed up her supplies, she couldn’t help a small smile, a real one this time. She had fond memories of Dr. Franklin, of helping out around his vet practice when her mom had volunteered there one day a week. Those hours spent watching him take care of sick animals had been what set her on the path to becoming a veterinarian herself.

  She put the brakes on the trip down memory lane and slipped out of the stall, Garrett right behind her.

  “After this night, we all need a big slice of pie,” Garrett’s dad said.

  “That’s okay. I’ll just be going.” She needed to get away from the ranch, from the memories, from the way her pulse sped up every time she made eye contact with Garrett. Hell, every time she was within sight of him. It wasn’t helping that with his clothes plastered to his skin, she could see every well-defined muscle and wanted to skim her hands over them.

  Mr. Brody patted her on the shoulder. “I insist. Someone has to save me from Linnea’s baking.”

  She glanced at Garrett.

  “Owen’s new wife,” he said. “She really likes to bake when she’s nervous.”

  “And these last few days leading up to the wedding, she’s been going through sugar like we operate a sugar cane plantation instead of a cattle ranch.” Mr. Brody chuckled. “Not that I’m complaining.” He patted his middle. “But the girl is going to make me fat.”

  Natalie couldn’t help smiling. She’d always loved Mr. Brody. Though she would always feel guilty afterward, she’d sometimes imagined what life would have been like if he were her dad instead of her own.

  “You still look young and trim to me,” she said.

  “Oh, I like you.” Mr. Brody put his arm around her. “Let’s get this angel of mercy some pie.”

  Natalie’s heart ached at the way Mr. Brody had described her. She couldn’t help thinking how he might hate her when she revealed why she’d come back to Blue Falls and how that would break her heart. Everything inside her screamed to dig in her heels, to not allow Garrett and his dad to usher her inside. The thought of her father’s letter sitting in her luggage at the motel burned as if it were taped right over her heart.

  But if she protested too much, that would send up red flags she wasn’t ready to explain. She cursed the incredibly bad timing of her arrival as she followed Mr. Brody through the slackened rain and up the front steps she’d climbed earlier when no one was home.

  She toed off her muddy boots on the porch. When she stepped through the front door, she nearly gasped at how the past came careening at her and slammed into her chest. Everything looked the same, exactly as she remembered it. The couch and chairs, the same beige and dark brown leather set, still sat configured the way they had been when she was a child. Framed photos still covered every inch of the mantel above the fireplace that got used only during the dead of winter. She half expected Karen Brody to come walking out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel and announcing there were cookies fresh from the oven.

 
“You okay?”

  She tore her gaze away from the time capsule that was the Brody living room to look up at Garrett. Though he was probably every bit as chilled as she was, she’d swear she could feel heat coming off his body.

  “Uh, yeah. Just tired, I guess.”

  The edge of his mouth edged up in a grin. “I know the feeling.” He nodded toward the kitchen. “Come on. Lin’s pie is really good.”

  “Want some coffee?” his dad asked when they entered the kitchen.

  She shook her head. “No. I need to get some sleep when I go back to the motel.”

  When Garrett pulled out a chair for her, her heart rate sped up. With a slight smile, she sat. “Thanks.”

  She watched as Mr. Brody sliced three large pieces of chocolate meringue pie and placed them on small plates. When he slid hers in front of her, her stomach growled audibly.

  “Just in time, by the sound of it,” he said.

  Garrett took the chair next to her. “You didn’t eat enough of your fries earlier.”

  “I guess not.”

  She mentally crossed her fingers that the pie wouldn’t upset her stomach, especially when she took the first bite. “This is delicious.”

  So good, in fact, that she quickly took a couple more bites.

  “Hard to believe you’re sitting here in our kitchen again,” Mr. Brody said, knocking her off her pie high. “Garrett says you live in Kansas. How are your parents doing?”

  The question brought back a flood of unwelcome memories from the past week, and she slowly placed her fork on the plate beside her half-eaten slice of pie. She tried to swallow past that persistent lump in her throat but found it impossible.

  “Mom’s okay, but my dad...” Her voice broke as she stared at the top of the meringue. “He passed away recently.” She purposely didn’t share how recently, wanting to avoid questions about why she was in Texas so soon after her father’s death.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Panic shot to life in her middle and quickly invaded the rest of her body. Please don’t ask me why I’m here.

  An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment before Mr. Brody spoke again. “Are your sisters in Kansas, too? They were just little-bitty things when you moved away.”

  She tried swallowing again and was a little more successful this time. “Allison is. She lives in Kansas City with her family and is an elementary school teacher. But Renee actually lives in Paris, France. She’s an artist. You’d never know she’s a Midwestern girl if you saw her now.”

  “Do you get to see her much?” Garrett asked.

  She shifted her gaze to him and was momentarily entranced by how good he looked despite the fact he’d been doused by rain and had a dirty streak across his cheek. Or maybe he looked good because of it. “Um, she flies home about once a year. Of course, she was home for...”

  When he nodded in understanding, she didn’t have to finish the sentence.

  For a moment, she considered telling them the truth, but it just felt bone-deep wrong. They seemed happy. And despite the fact that only Mr. Brody and Garrett sat at the table with her, she felt the familiar love that resided in this house. Part of her yearned to embrace it, to bask in that wonderful feeling. Her family loved each other, but that love had always existed alongside the strain of having an alcoholic for a father. She knew that in the larger scheme of things she’d been lucky. Her dad hadn’t been a mean drunk. He never would have dreamed of hurting his wife and daughters.

  But he’d killed a woman, a kindhearted, loving wife and mother who’d been ripped from the men now seated with Natalie. A sudden ache of wrongness filled her middle, a feeling that she had no right to sit here and eat pie with them, acting as if everything was okay.

  Natalie scooted her chair away from the table. “Thanks for the pie, but I need to be going.”

  “Okay. Sorry to have pulled you out here in the middle of the night,” Mr. Brody said.

  “No, it’s okay. I’m glad I could help.”

  She stood and glanced at Garrett only for a moment, enough to see he was getting to his feet. She had to get out of the house before it finished closing in on her. “Good night.”

  She didn’t run, but she ate up the ground between her and the front door so quickly that she was halfway down the steps before Garrett reached the porch behind her.

  “Natalie?”

  Why couldn’t he just let her go? But if she ignored him and ran, she might break down and spill everything when she was only hanging on by a thread, when she would do it all wrong.

  Garrett came to stand beside her on the steps, but she didn’t look at him.

  “I’m sorry if talking about your dad upset you.”

  “It’s okay. I’m just really exhausted and need to get some sleep.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay to drive back into town? We’ve got plenty of empty bedrooms now.”

  God, no, that was the last thing she needed to do, spend the entire night under the same roof as Garrett and his father.

  “I’ll be fine. Just call Dr. Franklin when he gets back and have him check on Penelope.” Before he could say anything else or she could break, she hurried through the drizzle to her truck and got off the Brody ranch as fast as she could without it looking like exactly what it was—fleeing.

  * * *

  GARRETT STOOD ON the front steps watching as Natalie’s taillights disappeared into the night. It was the second time she’d run away from him in one evening. No wonder he wasn’t in a serious relationship if he made women run off into the night. That sure was great for a guy’s ego.

  Something tugged on his brain, an instinct demanding to be acknowledged though he couldn’t pinpoint what it was trying to say. Hell, maybe he was just bone tired like Natalie.

  As he dragged himself back into the house, his dad was coming out of the kitchen. “I hope I didn’t run her off.”

  “I think we’re all just ready to call it a day.”

  “Yeah, my bed is screaming my name.”

  After his dad wandered off down the hallway, Garrett returned to his own room. But even as wiped out as he was, he couldn’t go to sleep. He kept replaying every moment he’d spent with Natalie since bumping into her at the music hall earlier. As soon as he’d seen her, his entire body had started buzzing as if it’d been inhabited by a colony of bees. He hadn’t experienced that sort of reaction to a woman in...well, ever. And quite honestly it freaked him out.

  He wasn’t a complicated guy. Pretty much what he wanted out of life was to carry on the Brody tradition of operating and improving the ranch and have a family of his own. While Owen had been the playboy of the family, dating so many girls that Garrett could never keep them straight, that kind of life had never appealed to Garrett. Some might see that as boring, but he didn’t think so. He chose to view it as responsible and not trying to be something he wasn’t. He might not be a bad boy, but he had to believe that somewhere out there a wonderful woman was looking for a good guy who would treat her right, a woman who would share his love of the land and a simple, satisfying life. But so far, that woman hadn’t crossed his path.

  Or had she?

  He didn’t know Natalie Todd anymore, hadn’t really known her when they’d been kids. She’d been Chloe’s sidekick, a little blonde girl who’d seemed to love spending time at his house. The adult version didn’t have that same bright openness he remembered. But a lot could happen to a person in twenty years, things that changed them. He knew that from bitter experience.

  And something was definitely bothering her. Whether it was fatigue as she claimed, the fact that her father had died recently or something else entirely, he had no idea. But both times she’d walked away from him, he’d wanted to bring her back so he could get to know her better. Which made very little sense when he thought abo
ut it.

  Even though he still didn’t know why she was in Blue Falls, he doubted it was because she was planning to move back. So the fact that they lived hours apart, with the entire state of Oklahoma and half the height of Texas separating them, made even thinking about pursuing her all kinds of stupid. He wasn’t the kind of guy who was able to sleep with a woman one night and walk away from her the next day as if it was no big deal.

  Garrett rolled onto his side and watched as rivulets of rain rolled down his window. He hoped that Natalie had gotten back to the motel okay. Part of him wanted to reach for the phone to call her, to make sure, but she was most likely back in bed, and he didn’t want to bother her again tonight.

  Even if he liked the idea of hearing her voice as he lay there in the dark.

  He ran his hand down over his face. With a new hole in the barn roof as well as a week ahead of being a man down on the ranch, the last thing he had time for was daydreaming about a woman who wasn’t even in the realm of possibility for him. And yet that’s exactly where Natalie stayed as he replayed the sight of her taking charge with Penelope and calming the animal as she worked on the mare’s injury. Those few minutes of watching her work were all he needed to know that she was good at her job, that she was used to working with large animals and cared about their welfare every bit as much as he did. She was no doubt intimately familiar with ranching operations, with his way of life. Not to mention she was stunningly beautiful.

  Damn, he wished she still lived in Blue Falls. If she did, he had no doubt he’d pursue her. But as usual, one of the pieces just didn’t line up. Story of his life.

  But even if that was a dead-end road, it didn’t mean he couldn’t indulge in a little fantasizing as he drifted toward sleep. Maybe he’d wake up to find that out-of-sync piece had slipped into place sometime in the night.

  Chapter Five