The Heart of a Cowboy

by Trish Milburn

  Even though one part of him wanted to hightail it to the back of the ranch and stay there until Natalie left and another part really wanted to go immediately to her side, he did neither. Instead, he casually walked to the back of his truck, still wiping his hands, and leaned against the rear fender. Had Natalie been on her way to check on Penelope only to experience car trouble? Nothing else made any sense.

  At least not until she opened the passenger side door, revealing a thick bandage on her arm and a cast on her leg.

  Garrett forgot his determination to act casual as he walked toward her. “What happened?”

  His dad rounded the front of the truck. “She pulled a Wyatt this morning.”

  At her confused expression, his dad patted her on the shoulder. “Remember how I said Chloe met Wyatt?”

  The lines on her forehead eased as if she made the connection.

  “A bull did this?” Garrett asked.

  His dad met his gaze. “Yep, out at the Burton place.” He motioned Garrett forward. “Help me get her into the house.”

  “I can manage,” Natalie said.

  “You heard what the doc said. No stairs by yourself.” He pointed toward the wooden steps that led up to the front porch.

  Garrett couldn’t help chuckling. Natalie leveled a narrowed look at him.

  “I’m not laughing at you,” he said. “Just at the fact that we’ve somehow become the newest getaway for people needing to heal.”

  It hit him suddenly that the last two people to occupy the guest room were now married to his siblings. With that track record... Nope, best not to think like that.

  He stood at the ready as Natalie eased out of the truck. Garrett guessed by the size of the bandage on her arm that using crutches was going to be painful, so he stepped up to her side as his dad positioned himself on the other. Natalie placed her arms around their shoulders and allowed them to lift her. Garrett got a good whiff of some faint, feminine scent, vanilla with a touch of something he couldn’t identify. He closed his eyes for a moment, giving himself a quick pep talk about how now wasn’t the right time to be thinking about how he’d like to nuzzle Natalie’s skin until he found the source of that scent.

  “You know, if I had to tangle with a bull, I would have at least liked a chance at some prize money first,” she said.

  Garrett’s dad barked out a laugh, and Garrett smiled.

  But in the next moment, Natalie grunted in pain. Garrett glanced at her face in time to see the way she was pressing her lips together as if to keep from crying out. Unwilling to put her through any more than she’d already endured today, he swept her up into his arms.

  Natalie gasped.

  “Did I hurt you?” His eyes met hers, and he nearly gasped himself. Though it was the last thing he should be thinking about, his first thought was how sweet and pink her lips looked and how much he suddenly wanted to kiss them.

  “Um, no, but put me down before you throw out your back.”

  He laughed at that. “Honey, it’s going to take something a lot heavier than you to do that.”

  When Garrett reached the top of the steps, however, he realized his mistake. With all the weddings that had been going on lately, he couldn’t avoid thinking about what carrying a woman across the threshold symbolized. And damned if the barely hidden smile on his dad’s face didn’t tell him that the same thought had occurred to him, as well.

  Garrett chose to ignore it as well as Natalie’s assertion that she could make it the rest of the way herself. Instead, he waited until his dad opened the front door then carried Natalie into the living room. But when he deposited her on the end of the couch, he had to fight the strange need to not let go of her. He forced himself to take a few steps away.

  “Would you like something to drink?”

  “Honestly, both of you, I can manage. I would have been able to manage at the motel.”

  His dad patted Natalie on the top of her head as he started toward the kitchen. “This one grew up stubborn.”

  Natalie Todd grew up to be a lot of things Garrett hadn’t expected, including the reason that he suddenly needed to make himself scarce before he embarrassed himself as well as her.

  As he headed down the hallway with the excuse that he needed to wash off the grease and dirt of the day, he wondered where their old tent was—because camping out under the stars by himself was looking like a really good idea right about now.

  * * *

  ABOUT AT THE end of what she could handle in one day, Natalie made the excuse that she was tired and would like to go lie down. Mr. Brody moved to help her, but she held up her hand.

  “I appreciate it, I really do, but I can’t depend on you all to help me every time I need to move. I know a ranch doesn’t run itself. You and Garrett do what you need to, and don’t worry about me. I promise not to tumble down the front steps.”

  “I do believe some of my kids rubbed off on you.”

  She managed a smile then reached for her crutches. Though pain shot up her arm when she put her weight on it, she forced herself not to show it. By the time she walked the short distance to the room that used to be Chloe’s, she really was ready to rest. She needed to call Allison to get her out of this jam, but it’d be best to call when she was alone in the house. Maybe she’d just lie down and allow the pain throbbing in her arm and leg to settle down.

  But as she snuggled into the bed, she realized she was more exhausted than she’d thought. Combined with the postsurgery drugs still in her system, she succumbed to sleep in what seemed like half a dozen breaths.

  When she woke, it took her a moment to figure out why. And where she was.

  “Natalie? Are you okay?”

  She blinked a couple of times then realized it was Mr. Brody’s voice coming through the door and that darkness had fallen outside.

  “Um, yeah.”

  “Dinner’s ready.”

  Her nap had evidently turned into several hours of sleep. “Okay. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  She listened to the sound of floorboards creaking as Mr. Brody walked away before lifting to a sitting position on the side of the bed. She rubbed a hand over her face then back over her hair to smooth it. The movement sent a wave of throbbing pain through her arm, causing her to grit her teeth until it passed. She hated taking pain medicine, but if she had any hope of making it through dinner with Garrett and his father, she’d better take one of the pills that had accompanied her out of the hospital.

  After swallowing it, she managed to push herself to her feet. With some awkward thunking of the crutches, she made her way to the kitchen. She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Garrett placing a plate of pork chops on the table. Gone were the dirty clothes he’d been wearing earlier, replaced by a snug gray T-shirt and clean jeans. He’d obviously taken a shower recently because his hair still looked damp. Heaven help her, he looked good enough to eat. She had the wholly inappropriate thought that she’d like to have him for dinner.

  “I think the realization that you cooked dinner has struck our guest dumb, Garrett,” Mr. Brody said with a laugh.

  Garrett looked up at her then rounded the table. “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine.”

  He lifted one dark eyebrow.

  “Okay, like I got run over by a train. But the nap helped.” Unable to maintain eye contact with him, she glanced at Mr. Brody. “Sorry I slept so long. I could have helped out.”

  “I think it’s best that you rest up and heal. We’re beginning to get used to doing things on our own. We depended on Chloe for too long.”

  Natalie sensed there was more to Mr. Brody’s words, but she didn’t give any indication that she’d noticed. Garrett pulled out a chair for Natalie, and she offered him a small smile of gratitude. Even though she couldn’t allow herself to get too attached t
o Garrett, she had to admit the gesture gave her a warm feeling in her middle.

  It was nothing like the thrill that had raced along all her nerves when he’d literally swept her up into his strong arms earlier and carried her into the house as if she weighed no more than a pup, but then she doubted anything would ever make her feel like that again. If she hadn’t been so exhausted earlier, she had no doubt she would have lain in Chloe’s old bed and replayed those few moments over and over in her mind. Probably best she’d fallen asleep so quickly.

  As Natalie filled her plate with a pork chop, green beans and one of those store-bought dinner rolls she always associated with Thanksgiving, she searched for something to say that wouldn’t open up a conversation she didn’t want to have. Thankfully, Mr. Brody saved them all from the awkward quiet.

  “So before the Burtons’ bull injured you, were you able to figure out what was wrong with him?”

  She realized that with everything that had happened since she’d awakened at the hospital, she hadn’t even thought about the answer to that question. “No, didn’t get a chance.”

  Garrett nabbed a roll, and her eyes focused on the length of that strong, tanned arm, wondering what it would feel like pulling her close.

  “Oh, I talked to Doc Franklin late this afternoon,” Garrett said, drawing her attention away from his sinewy arm up to his handsome face. “He said they found a piece of glass at the top edge of his hoof.”

  “Glass?”

  “Yeah. Some people seem to think it’s fun to throw beer bottles at fence posts. Sometimes the glass ends up in the edge of cattle pastures.”

  “That’s horrible.” Her hand tightened on her fork as she imagined the senseless danger that posed not only to herds but to horses and the ranch hands who worked the land.

  The conversation drifted to the state of the Brodys’ ranch, including Owen’s horse-training business and the fact that they were going to be moving the herd to a new pasture over the next couple of days.

  “You sure you’ll be okay here by yourself?” Mr. Brody asked.

  “I promise.”

  She popped the last of her roll in her mouth and chewed slowly, surprised and a little annoyed by how tired she was again, even after all the sleep she’d gotten that day. Maybe she was still catching up for all the days when she’d barely been able to string two hours of sleep together at any one time.

  After wiping her mouth on her napkin, she looked at Garrett. “That was good.”

  He smiled, causing her heart to beat out of rhythm for a moment.

  “Don’t sound so surprised.”

  “We’re not going to get our own cooking show anytime soon, but we get by,” Mr. Brody said.

  “Want some dessert?” Garrett asked.

  Though part of her brain was screaming at her to go back to the bedroom before the sight of Garrett caused her to start drooling like a bloodhound, she said, “Sure.”

  She forced herself to focus on her cuticle so she wouldn’t watch every move Garrett made. At least she tried. She sneaked a peek in time to see him reach into a cabinet. Damn, his jeans fit him nicely. How on God’s green earth was that man not married with half a dozen gorgeous kids following him around the ranch?

  Natalie jerked her gaze away from Garrett’s rear right before he closed the cabinet and turned back toward the table. It took her a moment to realize what he was carrying. When he placed the box on the table, she stared at it for a moment before meeting his gaze.

  “You’ve got an excellent bakery in town, and you have Twinkies snack cakes for dessert?”

  He shrugged. “I had a coupon.”

  For a suspended moment, she just stared at him as if she couldn’t have heard him correctly. And then she burst out laughing.

  It felt better than anything had in weeks.

  Chapter Eight

  Natalie’s unexpected burst of laughter caused an equally unexpected filling of Garrett’s heart. She’d offered a small smile here and there since her return to Blue Falls, but this was the first time she’d actually looked and sounded happy. That he’d caused it, well, it made him feel strange, but in a good way.

  Still, he wasn’t about to let the laughter at his expense go unanswered.

  “What’s so funny?”

  Natalie held up a hand. “Sorry. I’m just having trouble picturing the big, tall cowboy clipping coupons.”

  He crossed his arms and fixed his gaze on her, trying to look annoyed despite the fact that all he could think was that she was so damn beautiful.

  “Well, big, tall cowboys have to watch the bottom line to keep ranches afloat.”

  She reined in her laughter, and the loss of it and the dimming of her smile made him want to throttle himself.

  “Sorry. I understand about being careful about finances.”

  Of course she would. Granted, he hadn’t paid a lot of attention to her when they’d been kids. But he did remember her family hadn’t had much. Despite the years that had passed, one memory did stand out. It had been Christmastime, and his parents had gotten Natalie the same toy horse they’d gotten Chloe. He remembered seeing tears in her eyes, but at the time he hadn’t understood why someone would cry over getting a toy. He’d probably thought she was just being a silly girl. But now he saw the entire scene from a grown-up perspective and hoped he hadn’t said something stupid.

  “What he’s not telling you,” his dad said, “is that Chloe made us both go through what she called Household Boot Camp as if we were going to starve and walk around stark naked if she didn’t teach us how to get by without her.”

  “And coupon clipping was part of that,” Natalie said. “I’ve got to say, the image of this is pretty awesome in my head.”

  His dad chuckled, and Garrett found himself just wanting to sit down and watch Natalie smile. Good Lord, his brain was addled. He slid into his seat and snatched a Twinkie, ripping it open while making himself stare at the package instead of her.

  “What was worse than coupon clipping was how to make beds.”

  Natalie shuddered. “Because why make a bed when you’re just going to get back in it, right?”

  He looked up at her with what had to be an expression of surprise. “Exactly. But don’t let Chloe hear you say that.”

  She smiled at him, and damned if he didn’t feel it all the way down to his toes. He wanted to curse when he remembered that she was here only temporarily.

  “So, Natalie, we typically just watch TV at night, but we’ve got some movies if you want to watch one,” his dad said.

  Natalie shifted her gaze away from Garrett. “Actually, I’m still pretty tired, so I’m going to turn in. But the TV won’t bother me if you all want to watch it. Don’t worry about me.”

  She scooted her chair back and reached for her crutches before Garrett could hop to her aid, and maybe that was a good thing. There was no reason to act overeager or let himself get any more interested in her.

  His dad, however, did stand. “Is there anything you need?”

  Natalie settled her weight on the crutches and smiled at his dad. “No, I’m fine. Thank you for dinner.”

  “That was Garrett’s doing. He was a better study in that department than me.”

  Natalie shifted her gaze to him, and he’d almost swear there was a layer of nervousness in her smile. Did he make her nervous? Was it possible that she found him as attractive as he did her?

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.”

  And with that she turned and clunked her way toward the hallway. Only when she disappeared from sight did he relax. He hadn’t even realized he’d been tensed.

  “For someone who prides himself on not showing his feelings, you sure are terrible at hiding them.”

  Garrett jerked his gaze toward his dad,
probably too fast. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You know exactly what it means. You also know playing dumb doesn’t work with me. Thought you learned that lesson when you were no taller than my knee, about the time Owen ended up with a black eye.”

  Garrett sighed and shook his head once before standing and grabbing the box of Twinkies. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Of course it matters.”

  He shoved the Twinkies into the cabinet where they kept snacks that were easy to grab on the way out the door. “No, really, it doesn’t, not when I have no intention of leaving Blue Falls and she’s got a life in Wichita.”

  “Time will tell.”

  Garrett didn’t respond, unwilling to keep the conversation going. His dad had never interfered in his kids’ love lives before Chloe met Wyatt. But as soon as it was obvious those two were falling for each other, Wayne Brody suddenly got a lot more interested in marrying his offspring off. He wasn’t as bad as Verona Charles, thank goodness, but Garrett still didn’t need a matchmaker. Or someone pointing out what he already knew, that he was really attracted to Natalie Todd.

  * * *

  BY THE TIME Natalie woke the next morning, she could tell from the quiet of the house that she was alone. She glanced at the clock and realized that Garrett and his dad were probably already out moving the herd between pastures. She wished she were able to help, but she’d be more of a hindrance than anything in her condition.

  But she had to get out of their house. The longer she stayed under their roof, the worse she was going to feel. And now she couldn’t even tell them the truth if she wanted to, not until she had a way back to town. She was beginning to wonder what she’d done in a previous life to deserve the cascade of awfulness that had overrun her lately.

  It hasn’t all been awful.

  True. There had been some nice moments with Garrett and his dad, ones she was going to treasure after she told them the truth and went home. Her heart ached when she thought about how much she would miss Wayne’s fatherly warmth and the buzzy thrill she felt anytime she was near Garrett. It was as if that crush she’d had on him as a girl had continued to grow without her knowledge over the years and made itself known when they’d crossed paths again.