An August Bride

by Debra Clopton

  It had taken every ounce of willpower Brent had to stay away from Kelsey for two weeks. He’d done it on purpose, giving her time and hoping that if he took his time, started dropping into her life every so often and built a friendship with her, maybe she would give him a chance.

  But it still took his willpower and trust in the Lord for him to walk away now.

  Patience. When he’d started praying, that was the word that kept coming to him continually. Patience.

  He wasn’t a patient man.

  But he’d forced himself to be. Not that he’d been in the best of moods during that time. He was lucky that he still had ranch hands at the ranch. His foreman had finally come to him and told him he had to do something to alleviate the bad mood or there was going to be a revolt.

  That had been all the excuse he’d needed to make the trip to the beach.

  Now he was walking away.

  Kelsey had been right when she’d told him two weeks earlier that they had only known each other for less than three days. It wasn’t normal for a man to fall in love with a woman in that short a period of time. That he had wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that she’d told him time and time again that she wasn’t going to date or fall for a cowboy. And she’d made it clear that she had no intention of living on a ranch ever again. She made it clear that she’d come to the ranch that day purely for business purposes.

  He hadn’t listened. He’d had his mind made up and plowed ahead as if she’d said nothing.

  She’d had every right to walk away from him.

  So, he aimed to fix that. He’d laid low, giving her some time, and then he’d come by to say hello and test the waters. Nothing planned, just a check to see how she was doing and if just maybe she’d missed him in the two weeks like he’d missed her.

  She’d seemed glad to see him. That was promising. And he’d enjoyed seeing a whole new side to her. Kelsey had a good heart. That she’d put up with the posse’s schemes had already shown him that.

  He liked seeing this part of her. Brent drove back home over the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge with the wind billowing in through the open window and Kenny Chesney singing “El Cerrito Place,” a low, lonesome love song, on the radio. Brent understood a little more about Kelsey than he did before. She had a good life. What she did made others’ lives better, and she was good at it. She had found purpose.

  A good thing. It just made getting her to fall in love with him that much harder.

  He was up for the challenge. Because today, he’d known even more than before that Kelsey was worth whatever it took to win her heart.

  Kelsey didn’t see Brent for another week, and she finally gave in and called him. He picked up after several rings.

  “Hello, Sandbar Ranch.”

  Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the sound of his voice. She’d missed him. “Brent, it’s Kelsey.“

  “Hey, how are you?” There was no mistaking the way his voice warmed when he realized it was her. The idea sent a shot of sunshine through her.

  “I’m great. I, um—I was calling to ask if the pavilion was open for the second week of September.”

  “Really? Hold on a sec and let me look at my calendar.”

  She realized she was on pins and needles as she waited for him to get back to her.

  “It’s all yours,” he said within seconds. “If you need it, that is.”

  She smiled into the phone. “Yes, I just might. I have a client looking for place for a wedding reception. I’d need to bring them out and see it.”

  “Anytime. I’ll be out of town for the next two days delivering horses, but you can come out whenever you need to. If it’s when I’m not here, my foreman will show you around if you need him to.”

  Kelsey’s hand tightened on the phone, and she could almost see him smiling even though he wasn’t standing beside her. “I’ll find out when it is convenient for them and let you know something.”

  “That’s great.” There was a pause. “Kelsey, I’m glad you called.”

  “I think this will work well,” she said. “And I’m glad I called too,” she added. “I’ll call my clients and set this up.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” His drawl sent a little shiver through her even across the air waves.

  As she hung up, her pulse was skating at the thought of what this meant: she was going to be seeing more of Brent Corbin.

  Things had happened quickly after that. She’d suggested it to Lillian and then she’d taken her and her daughter, Sabrina, out to see Brent’s place. They’d loved it.

  They’d said it was the perfect venue.

  And so she found herself driving through the front entrance of the ranch on Tuesday afternoon after closing up the bistro. Rain was in the forecast, thankfully only a slight chance. As she headed up the drive, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

  However, there was a very dark one hanging inside the car. Her palms felt damp on the steering wheel as she pulled to a halt once more on Brent’s turf.

  The ranch was beautiful, but nothing looked as good as Brent when he came out of the barn carrying a roll of barbed wire to the bed of his truck. He was dressed simply, scuffed boots, form-fitting jeans with fringed chaps, a T-shirt stretched tight across his muscled chest. The look was finished off with buckskin-colored work gloves and his ever-present Stetson. He took her breath away and made her knees weak—even though she was sitting in her car.

  Two other cowboys were loading supplies into the truck too, but her gaze stuck to Brent. She’d been praying for the Lord to help her through this. He strode toward her, tugging his gloves off as he came, and before she shut the engine off, he was pulling open her door.

  “Hey, welcome back,” he said, holding a hand out. His eyes drank her in. She smiled in spite of herself.

  “Thanks. I hope I’m not here too early. There was less traffic than I anticipated.”

  “It’s not a bad drive. Only takes me twenty minutes from the downtown marina. Not much farther from your bistro.” He closed her car door for her as he continued. “It’s really good to see you. I need to finish up over here and then we’ll go check out the pavilion. You should go say hello to the new baby in the stable.”

  “Did Delta have her baby?” A jolt of excitement sprang through her.

  “Last week. They’re both doing great. She’s the spitting image of her mom.”

  Thrilled, Kelsey hurried toward the stable and found mother and filly inside. She was all gangly legs and sleek amber, as sweet as caramel candy when she came trotting over to investigate Kelsey.

  “You are a beauty, little darling,” Kelsey said when the filly nuzzled her hand. “And look at you, so friendly.” Kelsey smiled at the mother. As gentle as a lamb, she was watching Kelsey. Obviously she’d decided that Kelsey wasn’t a threat and was more than happy to let her baby sop up the attention—as long as she got some too. Delta carefully maneuvered next to her baby and nuzzled Kelsey over the top rail. While Kelsey tickled the baby with one hand and Delta with the other, mamma horse nibbled at Kelsey’s hair as if she did that every day. Memories flooded back of happy times she’d shared with her dad birthing foals. A lump of emotion clogged her throat just as Brent came through the entrance of the stable.

  “The filly is adorable.”

  Outlined by the sun behind him, Brent made quite a statement striding toward her, from his hat to his spurs and fringed chaps. It was that rugged square jaw and penetrating eyes trained on her that stilled her heart. She was so glad to see him. She’d missed him.

  “I knew you’d think so.”

  Kelsey tried to calm the raging storm of emotions suddenly sweeping through her. She’d missed him so much.

  “Amazing,” she managed, and she wasn’t looking at the horses. Kelsey’s stomach felt as if it were free-falling. And her heart clutched as Brent walked right up to her and, in one smooth movement, cupped her jaw with his work-roughened hands.

  He held her gaze with his own. “You take my bre
ath away, Kelsey. It’s good to have you back out here,” he said, his voice gravelly with emotion. His gaze touched every part of her face, lingering on her lips.

  She could barely breathe, and though she told herself to break away, her feet ignored her.

  He was going to kiss her.

  But he didn’t. Instead, his eyes clouded and then, in an instant, he moved past her to the back of the stable. Kelsey had never been so disappointed in all of her life. Not even the day Lance had walked out of the church on her.

  She grabbed the stall rail and steadied her weak knees.

  Silence filled the stable as Brent filled a bucket with feed, then came back to let himself into the stall. “Come on in and meet little Tulip.”

  Kelsey went still. “Tulip?”

  He winked. “I couldn’t resist after the story you told me. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Mind? Brent, I love it.”

  She eased into the stall and held her hand out to Tulip. She was touched deeply at Brent’s attempt to ease the pain she’d felt at losing her Tulip. Years of hurt and pain rushed her suddenly and it was all she could do not to cry. But she’d stopped crying a long time ago.

  Still—

  “I knew you’d lost Tulip before, and I wanted you to be able to come here and watch this beauty grow and flourish here on the ranch.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say, how to react to something like that. Her every instinct, every cell, every emotion demanded she throw herself into his arms. Why had he done this?

  “It’s a very sweet gesture. But—”

  He poured the feed into the trough and shot her a knowing look. “Didn’t mean to give you something to have to veto. You ready to go see the pavilion?”

  She should have been relieved that he recognized he’d just put her in an uncomfortable situation. But she didn’t. “Whenever you are,” she said, too brightly.

  “Then let’s go. I had Toby saddle the horses, thought you might want a quick ride while you were here. It’s not a big deal, though. I know you don’t really want to have anything to do with ranching. I just thought if you wanted to enjoy a horse ride, I’d have them saddled already.”

  This was not the action of a man who just wanted to have a business relationship with her. Part of her wanted to run again, but part of her undeniably wanted to stay. And there was no denying the delight that ambushed her at the thought of riding again.

  His disclaimer eased her mind. She could ride a horse without the pressure of reclaiming a love of ranching. “I would love it.”

  They rode down the gravel lane to the pavilion. Its rustic wood and stone façade stood out in the windswept pasture and, if not for the trees, it might not have been such a romantic venue. The wide-branched oaks along with the western landscaping just fit. Abundant blooming yellow lantana and red roses in perfectly maintained beds softened the view—like rawhide and lace, the building and the landscape complimented each other.

  “You’ve done an excellent job with this place, Brent.”

  He halted Duke and stared at the pavilion, which was still a good five hundred feet up ahead of them. The storm clouds had begun to gather in the distance behind the pavilion. “I just built something I liked. I saw a picture of a similar place in a magazine and I kept it for years, until I decided to go for it.”

  She relaxed in the saddle and reached forward to pat Ransom’s shoulder. “Why did you choose to do this? It was after you took over running the ranch, right?”

  He took a heavy breath and flicked the reins through his fingers. As if he were thinking deeply. “My dad had worked most of his life out here on this ranch. Like your dad, he’d put a lot of blood, sweat, and maybe even some tears into this place. If he didn’t put in the tears, I know for a fact that my mom did.”

  Kelsey looked away, remembering the tears her mother had cried. Many of which she tried to hide from Kelsey. “My mom too,” she said, looking back at Brent with regret. “I hated watching them struggle.”

  “I understand. My dad had done a good job and I’m sure your dad did too. But there are so many things in ranching that are out of the cowboy’s hands. My dad struggled to keep up with the times, and then the drought set in for three years and it was hard. Then, in the middle of the drought, my dad had his heart attack. I knew when I took over there were some things I wanted to implement in how we grazed our cattle, and so many other things that had to do with the cattle operations. That included the horses. The pavilion was an extra. A rainy day extra.”

  She smiled at that, unable to take her eyes off of him.

  “I knew I was going to meet a fantastic baker one day and she would need a place to cater a wedding. And so I built this building in preparation. How did I do?”

  His answer was so unexpected that her laughter bubbled out of her.

  “Cute, cowboy. Real cute. And you almost had me.”

  He grinned. “I try. I first dreamed it up when I was at school. One of my classmates got married and it was at a ranch over in Wharton, and they had something similar. The manager said it stayed booked most of the time, so it provided a steady source of income for the ranch. That’s all I needed to know. You coming out here to cater is just icing on the cake.”

  He gave her a grin as the first big raindrops plopped thick and heavy down on them.

  “We better take shelter.” He rode the rest of the way with her beside him, and by the time they’d dismounted, the heavens had really opened up. He jumped from Duke and turned to her. Grabbing her around the waist, he lifted her from the saddle before she had a chance to dismount.

  Breathless and damp, she laughed as he carried her beneath the open pavilion. She’d missed the feel of his arms and the beat of his heart next to hers. And she missed his kiss. His gaze fell to her lips, and then in a quick motion he set her on her feet and stepped away.

  That was twice now.

  Of course she knew it was the right thing for him to do. She’d told him point-blank before that she had no desire to have anything to do with a cowboy.

  Still, it was frustrating.

  “We better check out the kitchen.” Taking both horses’ reins, he moved them into the shelter of the pavilion and tied them to a beam. “This way,” he said, and led the way to the back of the building. “Feel free to look around. The kitchen is well-equipped, but you can bring in whatever you want. And as far as setup goes, you tell me how you want to serve and I’ll have my guys put the tables just like you ask.”

  The storm was coming down—a regular Texas thunderstorm, with lightning and a massive downpour. Inside the kitchen, though, it sounded more like a pleasant rushing of water over the metal roof. Kelsey moved about the room, trying not to think about how separated from the world it felt inside the kitchen under that deluge of water with Brent. And if you decide this is a partnership you want us to continue . . .

  Her thoughts kept going to what he’d said about the ranch. She looked through the cabinets and catalogued what she’d need.

  She had a really hard time concentrating.

  At last, she led the way out of the kitchen and walked to the edge of the pavilion watching the rain.

  “I think we’re stuck.” Brent came to stand beside her. She glanced at him.

  “Looks that way.” She felt as if time were standing still. And she loved it . . . She cut off her thought and moved away from him. It was entirely too dangerous to be near him. To be stuck with him and knowing she could be stuck with him for the rest of her life—and be happy. This was not what she needed to be thinking.

  They should have brought the truck.

  He tilted his head and studied her. “Are you afraid of me?”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “What makes you say that?”

  “For one, you won’t stand near me, and for two, you seem nervous.” He stepped toward her, stopping to hang his head and stare at his boots. When he looked at her, there was storm in his eyes. “Kelsey, I’ve been praying, and I’ve been trying to stay
away from you and give you space and time to get to know me. But I am not a patient man, and this has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I know it’s crazy. It’s not logical, but since when has love ever been logical? I am in love with you. I am.”

  Kelsey’s mouth went dry and her knees wobbled, but her heart leaped for joy. It was completely irrational. Illogical.

  Brent yanked his hat from his head and pushed his fingers through his hair, looking so torn. His deep, expressive eyes captured hers as he took another step toward her. He was so close, and yet he wasn’t touching her with anything except his beautiful gaze.

  “I’ve thought about nothing other than this ever since kissing you. I’m a cowboy. My heart is deep in this Texas soil—soil ranched by my grandfather and my father, and I want with all my heart for my kids to ranch here too. But, Kelsey, I love you. And I knew that after I’d only known you for three days. My heart connected with yours. And I know you may need more time. I’m willing to wait. But know that my heart is true. It can love you wider than the Grand Canyon and deeper than the ocean if you could trust me.”

  She started to speak.

  “Wait,” he said, taking her hand, finally touching her. “I have one more thing to say before you tell me to hit the road. I can live in town with you. I can watch the sun come up over the bay as long as I’m doing it with you. And I can come home to you and watch the sunset with you in the evening wherever you want me to. As long as I’m doing it with you, I can live anywhere. There is nothing that says you would be the one who would have to commute or even think about giving up your bistro.”

  Kelsey felt them come. The tears swelled in her eyes and spilled over. He would do all of that for her?

  She shook her head. “No,” she gasped through the tears clogging her throat.

  He pulled her into his arms. “It can work, Kelsey. I know you feel something for me. I felt it in your kiss. You can’t kiss with your heart like that and not have it mean something.”

  She smiled and sniffed and giggled because it was so unromantic. “No,” she managed.

  He dropped his hands and, looking so hurt she could barely stand it, he backed a step away. “You can’t mean that. I’m good with my finances, Kelsey. I know you have a fear of loving a place and losing it. That’s not going to happen here. I’ve got backup plans.”