The Last Cowboy Standing

by Barbara Dunlop

  “Nothing. Will you really help me?”

  “Help you what?”

  “Navigate your family tonight?”

  There was a very slight pause before he answered.

  “Yeah.” His voice was husky, and the back of his hand brushed lightly against hers.

  A spurt of desire in her abdomen was followed by a warm glow moving up her arm. She almost curled her hand into his palm, stopping herself just in time.

  “That’s a wrap,” called Seth. “I think we’ve got it under control.”

  His wife, Darby, whispered something in his ear.

  He grinned and immediately wrapped an arm around her, giving her a kiss on the temple.

  “The cars will be waiting out front,” he called to everyone else.

  Chatting happily, the crowd started along the concrete pathway to the back of the mansion.

  “Big breath,” Travis whispered to Danielle as they both moved to follow.

  They traveled in the same car, and Travis sat next to her at one of five round tables set up in the private, second-story room of the Riverfront Grill. It had an expansive view of the Lyndon River, looking west over the Rockies, and they were just in time for a gorgeous sunset.

  Caleb and Mandy, along with Katrina and Reed, had joined them at the table. Alex and Lisa sat with Zach and Abigail at the head table, along with Hugo and Maureen. Danielle noticed that Maureen stuck fast to Lisa, taking every opportunity to hug her or smooth her hair. Both women glowed, seeming delighted in each other’s company.

  As Katrina chatted happily about the wedding cake, the flowers and the decorations they’d put up at the mansion during the afternoon, Danielle began to relax. Katrina raved about Danielle’s dress, sharing the pictures with Mandy, and teasing Travis about being a shopping companion. Caleb and Reed stepped in as well, but Travis took it all in stride.

  They were interrupted by the clinking of a knife against a glass. The room went silent, as Hugo rose to his feet.

  Though he’d suffered a stroke many months back, he was now fully recovered. He looked strong and sure standing in front of his family.

  “This is the time,” he opened in a clear voice, “a toast would traditionally be given by the father of the bride.” He looked to Lisa and smiled lovingly. “As you all know, these are special circumstances.”

  He paused and cleared his throat. “What I’m about to say to you, I’ve discussed at length with your mother, with my wife Maureen.”

  Maureen reached up from her chair and took his hand, gripping it tight.

  “I spoke with Lisa this morning. She and Alex have asked me to tell you this.” Hugo paused again, clearly bracing himself.

  Everyone in the room had gone still and silent.

  “As you all know, we learned of Lisa, your cousin’s, existence only recently. Her mother Nicole was an amazing young woman, who we miss and mourn every day. What you don’t know, is for a short time, many, many years ago, Maureen and I grew apart in our marriage. We separated, even considered divorce.”

  Danielle felt Travis stiffen beside her. She glanced at his profile, seeing his jaw tighten and his eyes go hard.

  “During that time, I had a short-lived relationship with Nicole. It ended amicably. She moved on, and I thought it was merely a blip on the radar of our lives.” Hugo reached for a glass of water and took a drink.

  Maureen reached up with her other hand, wrapping them both around his. Lisa was blinking rapidly, while Alex had placed an arm around her.

  Danielle, along with everyone else in the room could guess where this was going. She reflexively reached for Travis’s hand. It was cold against hers, but she held on.

  “Seth, Travis, Abigail, Mandy, Katrina.” Hugo named each of his children individually. “Lisa is not just your cousin. She is your sister.”

  It was Hugo’s turn to blink, but he couldn’t quite contain his emotion, and a single tear streaked down his wrinkled face. He turned to the wedding couple. “And so, as the father of the bride, it is my proud and incredible honor to congratulate Alex, and tell you, Lisa, that I love you very much, that Maureen and I both loved your mother, and we could not be more delighted to have you as part of our family.” He raised his glass. “To the beautiful bride.”

  There was only stunned silence, and then applause filled the room. Katrina squealed and jumped to her feet, rushing to Lisa to hug her tight. Mandy followed after her.

  Maureen came to her feet and hugged Hugo, the two embracing for a long time.

  Travis didn’t move. He looked as if he’d been sucker punched.

  Danielle leaned in, pressing herself against his shoulder. “Go,” she whispered. “Lisa needs you right now.”

  Travis turned to stare blankly at Danielle.

  “Go,” she repeated, giving him a small shake. “Tell your sister you love her. Anything else can wait.”

  He seemed to rouse himself. Then he nodded his agreement.

  He rose from his chair and strode determinedly to the head table. His eyes were warm, and his smile was genuine as he spoke to Lisa. He hugged her to his chest, then he shook Alex’s hand. That he didn’t speak to his father seemed lost in the general chaos surrounding the family.

  “Looks like the women are taking it better than Travis and Seth,” Caleb muttered.

  Danielle scanned the room for Seth and realized Caleb was right. Seth was hugging his mother. Over her shoulder, his expression went tight and accusatory for the fleeting second that he met his father’s eyes.

  Danielle quickly switched her attention to Caleb. “I shouldn’t be here.” It wasn’t right that she was witnessing this intimate family moment.

  “Travis wants you here,” said Caleb, causing Reed to send him a confused look.

  “He wanted to dance with me,” said Danielle. “He had no idea this was going to happen.”

  “It’s good that you’re here,” Caleb insisted.

  Katrina returned to the table, wrapping her arms around Reed’s neck. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

  “It’s a surprise,” Reed responded.

  “A good surprise. A great surprise.”

  “Well, well, well,” said Mandy as she took her seat next to Caleb.

  “People are complicated,” said Caleb, lifting her hand and kissing her knuckles.

  Travis plunked down. “Is that the word we’re using?”

  The tension was clear in his tone, and Mandy and Katrina both gaped at him.

  “I think it’s the right word,” Danielle quickly put in. “Life doesn’t come in a neat package with a bow on top.”

  He gave her a hard look. “That doesn’t mean it—”

  She grasped his shoulder, pulling up to kiss him hard on the lips. He stilled in what had to be shock. She pulled back a mere inch from his face.

  “Shut up,” she whispered harshly for his ears alone. “Don’t hurt your sisters. Don’t upset your family. Just shut up right now.”

  He didn’t answer, but he leaned in and kissed her again, this time longer, and he was obviously no longer shocked.

  They drew apart to amazed stares of everyone at the table.

  “Danielle and I dated in Vegas,” Travis told them all, his tone back to normal. “So, you might want to get used to her kissing me.”

  “You dated in Vegas?” asked Katrina.

  “We had lunch,” said Danielle. “You know we danced that night. I wouldn’t exactly call it—”

  “Dating,” said Travis with finality, and he looped an arm around her shoulders.

  “Well, well, well,” Mandy repeated.

  Reed stepped in, reaching for one of two bottles in the center of the table. “I think I should pour the wine.”

  “Excellent idea,” said Caleb.

  Danielle swift
ly lifted her glass and held it out. She had no idea what was going to happen next, but a little wine sure couldn’t hurt the situation.

  * * *

  Seth joined Travis where he’d parked himself against the wall, gazing through the window at the lights on the river walk below.

  Seth copied his posture, leaning back, staring out the window. “You as ticked at him as I am?”

  “Yeah. For a minute there I wanted to string him up.”

  “He cheated on our mother,” said Seth, downing a final swallow of whiskey.

  Travis wished he had one himself. “She didn’t deserve that.”

  “They were separated, I suppose.”

  “Do you have any memory of that?” Travis asked his brother. “I don’t remember any fights, any trouble. Did it all just go away?”

  “I have a vague recollection of yelling, of Mom telling him to leave, crying. She was hugging you, and Abigail was in the bassinet. I think I picked her up and brought her to Mom.”

  Seth tried to take another drink, but the glass was empty. “Weird, huh? That memory shimmering there all this time?”

  “He shouldn’t get off scot-free.”

  “It seems like Mom’s forgiven him.”

  “She loves him,” said Travis. His mother was kind, caring and pragmatic. Just because she’d given their father a break, doesn’t mean he deserved it.

  “We love him, too,” Seth reminded his brother.

  Travis wanted to argue the point. They loved the man they’d thought he was. This was a whole new side of him.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked Seth instead.

  “Nothin’. It was a long time ago, and it brought us Lisa. It’s up to Mom to forgive him or not. And it seems like she has.”

  Travis thought about that. “With you and Darby. Would you ever, I mean even if you were fighting, would you cheat on her?”

  Seth’s gaze moved to Darby. “Not even with a gun to my head.”

  “Good to know.” Somehow that reaffirmed Travis’s faith in his gender. “Caleb and Reed, do you think? ’Cause I might have to kill them if they hurt our sisters.”

  Seth grinned. “Not a chance. Not Zach, either. Despite what you hear, bro, most men don’t cheat. We marry the right person, and we stop wanting anyone else.”

  Travis’s gaze fell on Danielle, laughing and talking with Katrina. He thought he understood what Seth meant. He wasn’t married to Danielle, wasn’t in love with her, but when she was around, the entire world disappeared. Other women were irrelevant.

  “Thanks,” he told his brother, straightening away from the wall.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Seth.

  “Nothin’,” Travis tossed over his shoulder.

  His brother was right. Their father and Nicole were the past. Lisa was the present.

  He reached Danielle. “Hey.”

  She turned and smiled at him, and he felt its impact right to his toes.

  “You want to walk?” he asked on impulse.

  “Walk where?”

  “Back to the mansion. We can cut across the park.”

  She glanced down at her shoes, which were heels but not too high. “Sure.”

  “See you guys back there,” sang Katrina, taking her leave.

  Travis slipped his hand over Danielle’s, and they took the back exit, climbing down a narrow staircase to come out at the river walk.

  “You okay?” she asked as they set a course along the bank, the sound of the river filling in the background.

  “I’m okay. I talked to Seth.”

  “Did you talk to your dad?”

  “Not yet. But I will. I don’t like it. I’m not sure my mother should forgive him. But that’s not my call to make.”

  “Really.” She seemed surprised.

  “What really?”

  “I know you meddle. And I always heard you were a hothead.”

  “I am a hothead.”

  “That was a sound, reasoned, rational decision.”

  “I have my moments.”

  “That, you do,” she agreed as they walked.

  “You’re the hothead,” he accused.

  “I most certainly am not.”

  “You kissed me to shut me up. Was that reasoned and rational?”

  “No, that was impulsive. But you were about to do something really stupid.”

  “Impulsive is another way of saying hothead.”

  “I notice you don’t disagree on the stupid part.”

  He tugged her playfully against his arm, and she hop-skipped to keep her balance.

  “I don’t disagree on the stupid part,” he told her.

  “That’s progress.”

  “Progress toward what?”

  She shrugged her slim shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  They walked in silence for a while, along the river, then across the park walkway. Travis kept her hand in his, glancing every once in a while at her profile, reminding himself how beautiful she was, how smart, how funny. He was content simply to be with her, and he wished the walk would never end.

  Too soon, they arrived at the back gate of the mansion and its gardens.

  “What now?” asked Danielle, taking in the arched wrought iron.

  “I’ve got the combination,” he told her, typing into the key pad. The lock clicked free, and he pulled the gate back wide enough to allow them to go through.

  “Impressive,” she said as she passed.

  “You mock my bull riding, but this does it for you?”

  “Bull riding is brute strength, no thinking required. This shows preplanning and intelligence.”

  “I’ve never met a foolish bull rider,” Travis defended.

  “I bet you’ve met a lot of bruised ones.”

  “True enough.”

  “Why would an intelligent man get on the back of a two-thousand-pound beast intent on doing him harm?”

  “The adrenaline rush,” answered Travis, pulling the gate back into place. “You can’t beat it for a thrill.”

  She’d stopped to wait. So they were now facing each other in the dark garden.

  “You like thrills, cowboy?”

  He heard a sensual edge to the question, but he was sure it was his own imagination.

  “I love thrills.” He wanted to kiss her so badly, it was all he could do to hold back.

  She was drop-dead gorgeous in the moonlight. Her hair was mussed, her lips dark, her eyes soft pools above beautifully flushed cheeks.

  “I like safety and predictability,” she countered.

  He raised his fingertips to her chin. “That’s too bad.”

  “Why?” she asked in a voice that had gone low.

  “Because I’m not predictable, and I’m sure not safe.”

  His lips parted, but she didn’t reply.

  “I’m going to kiss you, Danielle,” he warned.

  “I know,” she acknowledged.

  “And I’m not going to stop.”

  Eleven

  Danielle let herself mold against Travis’s body, holding herself tight against his hard strength. She hadn’t known until now just how much she’d missed him, how much she’d ached for his touch, his taste, his scent. There was nothing reasonable or rational about her emotions, but she felt as if she’d finally come home.

  She kissed him deeply, instantly opening up to him as his tongue tangled with hers. His hand slipped its way down her back, cupping her buttocks, pulling her tight to the vee of his thighs. She twined her arms around his neck, stretching up to devour his kisses.

  Her skin felt too tight, warm and restless. At the same time, desire swirled from the base of her belly
to the tops of her thighs, circling, tightening every nerve ending it found. The breeze buffeted her ears, muting sounds and blocking out the world. There was only Travis, nothing but Travis.

  Their kisses went on and on.

  “I’ve missed you,” Travis groaned against her mouth. “I’ve missed you so, so much.”

  “Don’t let me go,” she begged. She couldn’t stand it if something broke them apart right now.

  “I’m not letting you go.”

  He kissed her again, over and over, until both of them were breathless.

  He drew his head back, kissed her once more, then drew his head back again.

  “The gazebo?” He canted his head to the side.

  She nodded her agreement.

  He took her hand, and they rushed down a short pathway. It led to a cedar gazebo, octagonal in shape, a half wall bottom with screened window openings around the top. The night breeze and the scents of pine and asters wafted inside. A bench seat stretched along the walls, and Travis sat down.

  He pulled her forward. She clambered up, straddling his lap. Her skirt rode up, but she couldn’t have cared less. The closer she could get to him the better.

  He tipped his head to kiss her. His thighs were warm against her bare legs, her knees braced on the smooth, cool, wooden bench. He looped his arms beneath her blazer, stroking her back through her thin blouse.

  She shrugged out of the confining jacket and tossed it on the bench beside them. His broad hands cradled her ribcage as their kisses continued.

  After long moments, she slowly straightened from him. She looked deep into his eyes, smiling with knowing anticipation. She tugged her blouse from the waistband of her skirt. Then, starting with the bottom button, she popped them free, one at a time.

  His breathing was deep and even, his fingertips convulsing gently against her as he watched her progress. His gaze locked onto the seam of her blouse, eyes widening as she drew it open, revealing her lacy, white bra.

  “Have I told you that you’re gorgeous?” he rasped.

  She slipped the blouse off her shoulders and tossed it on top of the blazer.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” she told him, reaching back to unhook her bra.