The Renegade Cowboy Returns: The Renegade Cowboy ReturnsTexas Lullaby

by Tina Leonard

  Then she realized his gaze was on her.

  “You gonna split that cake with me, Irish?”

  “Sure, cowboy,” she murmured.

  After all, there was nothing she’d rather be doing than sitting in this booth right here, right now, with Gage and Cat, Chelsea knew. She could run like Cat, but the truth was, she didn’t want to.

  She really didn’t want to be anywhere but with them, even if she was fighting her own heart.

  * * *

  “THIS IS MY BEST PAIR,” Ms. Smithers proudly told them. “They have your name on them.”

  Gage considered the birds, thinking that they were, indeed, stunning. Though his mind was barely on Jonas’s unholy mission for lawn ornaments for Rancho Diablo. All he could think about was his child, and what he was going to do about her. It was obvious she absolutely wasn’t going back to her mother; a line had been drawn in the sand over boyfriend Larry, something that Cat must have been trying to explain for a long time with her facial jewelry and crazy hair. It had not escaped Gage that since she’d come to him, the piercings had begun to disappear one by one, going the way of the wind. And her hair was growing out on the shaved side.

  She seemed less resentful now, and happier.

  He wasn’t mad at Cat for trying to run away. If anything, he was worried. She hadn’t once been out of his sight—this time. He suspected that if he told her she had to go back to Laredo, she’d disappear again—and he might not be so fortunate as to have Aunt Kendall running recon for him.

  He sighed. I remember those troubled teen years.

  Which got him to thinking about the redheaded rebel standing next to him. Chelsea leaving his ring and him and the Phillips mausoleum was no big shocker. He’d really hoped she could look past The Family, Inc., and see just him.

  It was a lot to take in all at once. He’d never wanted to be around it, either. His father had wanted a son to take over the family business. He’d pushed relentlessly for Gage to do so. It just wasn’t in me to wheel and deal around the world. I liked building things. I liked being in the open air, not stuffy boardrooms filled with stuffy suits.

  I was a rebel, too.

  “Just so you know, Ms. Smithers,” Chelsea said, “these birds will be well cared for. They and their offspring will live either at Rancho Diablo or Dark Diablo, which is owned in part by Jonas Callahan of the New Mexico Callahan Ranches. We know you’ve been reluctant to sell to the previous owner of our ranch, but we are not the same as he was. We’re trying to make Dark Diablo a better place, a happier place that gives back to the community. And we think your beautiful peacocks will enhance our family ranch and community.”

  Gage stared at Chelsea, admiring her tact with the reluctant Ms. Smithers. The die was cast now. He had no idea how the breeder would react.

  “I knew that,” she said, with a pointed look at him. “That’s why I insisted you come get these birds,” she told Chelsea. “I want you to understand that nothing comes easy, and these peacocks deserve the best. That old man didn’t deserve them, but you…” She gazed at Chelsea. “I think you understand that a person’s treasure isn’t always measured in money. These are my babies,” she said, with a sweep of her hand, “and I don’t have to part with them. They only go to the very best homes.” She nodded at Chelsea. “Thanks for being honest.”

  She sent a frown to Gage. “You are from Hell’s Colony, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out who Gage Phillips is, you know. The internet doesn’t keep many secrets. You’re not listed with the officials of the company, like your sister and brother are.” Her brows lowered to indicate her displeasure with his dishonesty. “So I put in a call to ask where you were working these days. Very helpful woman—your mother, I believe—said that you were on a job in New Mexico at the Dark Diablo ranch. You honestly think I don’t check where my babies are going? No one can even get a dog from a rescue society anymore without a thorough check.”

  She was right. “I apologize, Ms. Smithers. I should have been forthright about where your peacocks would live.”

  “Yeah, well. I gave you a small pass because you seemed knowledgeable and interested in proper penning. But if it wasn’t for her,” she said, poking a bent finger at Chelsea, “I wouldn’t have considered your application at all.”

  He nodded. “I understand. We knew you had some bad feelings toward the previous owner.”

  “Mr. Taylor was a dishonest, horrible person and he sent men up here to steal my babies,” she said indignantly. “Ask around Tempest sometime. Ask if some of his men didn’t go back with a couple fannies full of buckshot.”

  Chelsea smiled. “You’re a good woman, Ms. Smithers. No wonder your peacocks are the best anywhere. You love them so much.”

  She sniffed. “Some people say I’m crazy, that I act like they’re my children. But if I never had any children, shouldn’t I have something?”

  Chelsea hugged her. “I’ll tell Jonas Callahan that if he doesn’t treat your peacocks with the reverence he gives his black Diablo mustangs, he will be in very hot water with you.”

  “I know. You, I trust.” She looked at Cat, then smiled at the teen, who’d been listening to the exchange with well-mannered respect. “Come on, little one. Let’s get you a snack while your daddy packs up my peafowl.”

  “Thank you,” Cat said, docilely following her to the house.

  Gage reached to touch Chelsea’s hand. “Good job.”

  She nodded, giving him a relieved smile. “I’m going to tell Jonas I want a raise.”

  “You deserve one. And you deserve a lot of gratitude for what you did for Cat.”

  “Oh,” Chelsea said, “I didn’t do anything for Cat. She did more for me than I did for her.”

  “She trusts you.” He understood completely why Ms. Smithers had instinctively trusted Chelsea. There was just something bright and honest about her that people recognized. “Thanks for having Cat call me.”

  “So how long were you going to follow us?”

  He sighed, and she saw the worry and strain in his face. “I was going to step in when it became necessary. Trust me, it’s not easy as a parent to let your child spread the proverbial wings, especially when I don’t know Cat all that well. What I do understand clearly is that she’s not happy with Leslie, and her mom’s not happy with her. I told Leslie that Cat had left, and that I was following her, but that she and I were going to have a serious conversation about this Larry individual. Leslie got real quiet after that.” He touched a strand of Chelsea’s hair, drawing it through his fingers. Chelsea could feel the connection between them, and his understanding of why she, too, had left.

  “I’m sorry, Gage,” she said. “I really am.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t be. I’m not.”

  They were talking about them now, and Chelsea felt tears prickle her eyes.

  “So,” Gage said, after a long moment, “now that you’re on Ms. Smithers’s good side, you think we should ask her to keep an eye on Cat for a while and give that rotating bed in the Peacock Cabin a test run? I’d probably get some cool ideas for a really upscale, technological pen for these birds that would blow Jonas’s mind.” Gage grinned as he tossed off his suggestion, and Chelsea couldn’t help returning his smile.

  “I think we’d better pack up these birds before Ms. Smithers changes her mind,” she said, knowing that if things had turned out differently between them, she would have jumped into any bed where Gage was.

  He was teasing her with a subtle mention that he’d enjoyed their lovemaking.

  He wasn’t the only one.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chelsea drove Gage’s truck, and Gage and Cat followed with the peacocks, carefully crated for traveling in the trailer hitched to the ranch truck. Fortunately, Chelsea liked to drive slowly, still acclimating to driving in the States.

  Jonas had told Gage that she was leaving in the morning to go after the peacocks. Then he had told him that he could not under any circumstances follow her. But when
Gage realized his daughter was about to be a surprise stowaway on a trip to Colorado, he’d said to hell with Jonas, and had taken off.

  Now he had plenty of time to talk things over with his daughter—and concentrate on a certain redhead he was following through the mountains.

  “Are you mad, Dad?” Cat asked.

  “I’m not mad, honey. I’m worried.”

  “You weren’t listening to me,” she told him. “Mom never listens to me, either.”

  “I was listening,” Gage said, “but I’m listening better now. If you want to live with me, I’m real willing to make that happen. I just don’t know that I see us living in Hell’s Colony with The Family, Inc.”

  “You always call them that. It annoys Aunt Kendall.”

  He smiled. “That’s because it’s more a consortium than a family. Kendall knows that. It’s just that she loves the business, and I don’t. We see it differently, and that’s okay.”

  “We need a job, though,” Cat said practically.

  “I can work for Jonas at Rancho Diablo until he decides to start building again at Dark Diablo.”

  Cat sat up straighter. “Really? Could we?”

  Gage glanced at his daughter. “Is that what you’d want?”

  “It would be awesome!”

  “There are, like, eighteen toddlers running around, getting into everything.”

  “I’d make a great big sister,” Cat said. “Cousin, I guess, but it feels like they’re my brothers and sisters!” She gave her father a wry glance. “I’ll be in college before I get any little brothers and sisters of my own.”

  He laughed. “Give me a chance, would you?”

  “I guess.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. You’ll have to find a girlfriend, and that takes time, and then—”

  “Whoa,” Gage said, “I haven’t given up on Chelsea yet.”

  “But she didn’t take the ring.”

  He smiled at his daughter’s directness. “Just because things don’t work out immediately doesn’t mean one should give up. The best things in life are worth time and effort, babe.”

  “I don’t know, Dad. Chelsea seems pretty happy. And I don’t know if you noticed or not, but there’s a big envelope from Immigration sitting in her truck. I peeked at it when she went to the restroom in Colorado.”

  He knew he shouldn’t encourage his daughter, but… “And?”

  “I don’t know what it was, exactly. She’s asked me not to read her stuff anymore, and I’m trying real hard to respect boundaries.”

  It seemed as if boundaries were still a struggle for Cat.

  “It is best to respect boundaries,” he agreed. “Thanks for listening to Chelsea. She’s right.”

  “So I didn’t peek inside,” Cat clarified. “I just peeked at the outside. It’s still peeking, but…I get bored when I sit too long by myself.”

  He remembered Chelsea had said that her mother suggested Cat wasn’t sufficiently challenged in school—and that tended to lead to boredom, and small mischiefs. “Cat,” he said, “are you really thinking about going to college one day?”

  “I think so. I’d like to be a doctor. I mean, I’d like to be like Tempest, but maybe that’s a bit crazy.” She considered that for a moment. “Anyway, I’ve always liked taking care of things. I’ve been taking care of Mom for years. So I think I’ll be a doctor.”

  He winced. “You’re going to be a little girl for a while yet. I want you to read the books Miss Moira suggests, and we’ll go to Rancho Diablo. We’ll find you a great school, and maybe a sports team or something.”

  “That’d be great, Dad.”

  She sounded distinctly happier than she had a few moments before, not troubled or weighed down. Gage thought about the envelope Chelsea had received from Immigration, realizing the long-awaited papers must have arrived.

  She didn’t need him anymore.

  Thing was, he wanted her. He was in love with her. He wanted to be with her, all the time.

  But as Cat had pointed out with her typical unsparing forthrightness, Chelsea seemed fine on her own.

  * * *

  “WE’RE GOING TO HEAD ON to Rancho Diablo.” Gage stopped behind Chelsea’s truck as she pulled into Dark Diablo. “Probably best to get these birds to their new home.”

  She nodded. “It’s been a long drive. Does Jonas know you’re bringing the birds out?”

  “He can’t wait.” Gage grinned. “It’s dumb, but it’s a job, right?”

  “We all keep Jonas happy.” She closed the van door and stretched. “What are your plans?”

  Gage looked at her, his eyes giving little away. She had the feeling he wanted their goodbye to be as easy as possible. “Cat wants to live with me,” he said softly.

  “I know. Seems best.”

  “Yeah. So I’m going to talk to Jonas about taking that job he offered me at Rancho Diablo. Cat wants to be around the kids and family atmosphere.” He smiled. “She says she’d be just as happy in Hell’s Colony, but she knows I don’t want to work there. So she’s thrilled to be going to Rancho Diablo.”

  “She’s a good girl.” Chelsea looked at Cat, who had climbed out of the truck and was running to check on the peacocks. “Mum’s kept her lovebirds safe and happy, so Cat will enjoy that reunion.”

  He nodded. “So what are your plans?”

  “Well,” Chelsea said, brushing some stray red strands from her face as the breeze picked up, “writing like mad, for one thing. I’m almost finished. And I like the way everything is turning out. I’m going to close myself up in the farmhouse and hope for greatness.”

  He smiled. “I’m sure you’ll get it.”

  She looked pensive. “Gage, I got my legal documentation.”

  He faced her, not saying anything, waiting for her to continue. “You don’t have to worry about me anymore,” she gently said.

  Something flickered in his eyes, but she wasn’t certain what. “Congratulations on your papers. I know you’ll feel more settled now.”

  “I feel,” Chelsea said, “like I can keep Mum safe and healthier now.” The thought brought a smile to her face. “Keep an eye on her for me, will you?”

  He looked at her. “I’ll do it.”

  “Thanks.” She turned her gaze to Cat. “If you can spare thirty minutes, I’d like to run your daughter into town.”

  “Any reason in particular?”

  She smiled. “Girl talk. Nothing you’d be interested in.”

  He nodded. “I’ll check on the birds and the crates while you girls go off and do your thing.”

  “Thanks. Cat!”

  The teen came to stand beside them. “Yes, Chelsea?”

  “I need to run to town real fast. Want to ride with me?”

  She looked at her father. “Is it all right, Dad?”

  He smiled. “Sure.”

  Cat followed after Chelsea, proudly wearing her new boots and a big smile. “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see,” Chelsea said. “You’ll see.”

  * * *

  CHELSEA FOLLOWED HER HUNCH and found what—who—she was looking for at Shinny’s Ice Cream Shoppe. The stunning, larger-than-life blonde smiled at her when she walked in.

  “Hello, Chelsea,” Tempest said.

  “Hi, Tempest. I brought a fan to meet you.”

  A sweet smile brought light to Tempest’s eyes. “This must be my encouraging pen pal. Hi, Cat.”

  The teen appeared dumbstruck—but only for a moment. Then she reverted to her typical loquaciousness.

  “You came back,” Cat said.

  “Sure,” Tempest replied. “I was hoping to meet you.”

  “Wow,” Cat said. “If my friends knew I was meeting a famous star, they’d be jealous!”

  Tempest laughed. “Let’s go sit in a booth, if you have time?” She looked at Chelsea. “I’d love to enjoy Cat for a few minutes, if that’s possible.”

  “We’re delivering peacocks to the ranch near Diablo,” Chelsea said. “Cat’s fathe
r has given us about thirty minutes before they have to hit the road.”

  “Good. Shinny, can you bring us some ice cream, please?” Tempest asked the elderly gentleman as they seated themselves in the lipstick-colored booths.

  “Like old times,” Shinny said, coming over to shake Chelsea’s hand and beam at Cat. “Is this the special writer who brought you back, Zola?”

  The two women smiled at Cat. “Yes, Shinny, this is the sweet girl who made me realize what I was missing.”

  Shinny looked at Cat, his kindly face creased in a grin. “Would you like some ice cream, Cat?”

  “Oh, yes, please,” she said, delighted. “I’ll have whatever Miss Tempest is having.”

  “Three of your specials, Shinny, please.” Tempest turned to Cat, her face now free of the anxiety she’d worn the night she’d knocked on Chelsea’s door. “You and I have so much to talk about.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Over the next three weeks, Chelsea finished her book, then sent it off to her editor, feeling good about volume three of her series. It turned out that Bronwyn Sang had known all along that she was stronger than she realized, and stronger even than the villain who had so bedeviled her. She solved her case, and in the hustle-bustle world she lived in, knew that it was only a matter of time before the next heinous villain darkened the world in which good always triumphed over evil, light over darkness, certainty over uncertainty.

  And she fell a little bit more in love with Detective Stone.

  Chelsea felt triumphant—and somehow empty now that she’d sent her manuscript off. She missed everything: Moira, Gage, Cat…noise, passion, light.

  She hadn’t taken time to celebrate her new immigration status, either. With a sigh of relief, she packed her bag and followed her longing for civilization and the people who meant the most to her.

  But first, she had to say goodbye to someone she had come to admire.

  She went first to Shinny’s. From the time she’d been a young, unhappy, hungry little girl, Zola had known that Shinny and Blanche were safe harbors for her.