Say Yes to the Cowboy

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  She smiled. “Looks like we’ll be making this journey together.” Her speech pegged her as being from the States, like him.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He got up and moved into the aisle so she could take the window seat. She was carrying a large satchel stuffed with wrapped packages, probably souvenirs for the folks back home.

  Instead of claiming her seat, she gazed up at him. “My, you are a tall, young man, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Can I hold your satchel for you while you slide in?”

  “Actually, I have a much bigger favor to ask, but now that I see how tall you are, I probably shouldn’t.”

  “What sort of favor, ma’am?”

  “Well, um...” Her cheeks turned pink. “This is a long flight and I have a very small bladder. The aisle seats were all taken when I booked, so I was hoping to trade with the person I sat next to. But I can see you need room to stretch those long legs. I can’t ask you to cram yourself into the window seat.”

  “Sure you can.” He grabbed his duffel from under the seat in front of him and slid into the one next to the window. He shoved the duffel into its new home.

  “Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver.” She sat and reached into her satchel. “I picked this up on the Australian leg of my trip. I want you to have it.” She handed him a boomerang-shaped package.

  “I couldn’t take this, ma’am.” He smiled as he gave it back to her. “I’m sure you intend it for someone back home, someone who’ll be mighty excited to get it.”

  “That may be true, but you just inconvenienced yourself for a stranger.”

  “Not at all. I was wondering if I’d made a mistake choosing the aisle. I like looking out.”

  “But we’ll be flying over the Pacific. There’s nothing to see except water.”

  “I like water.” He’d be stuffed in this seat tighter than a caterpillar in a cocoon, but she really did look like his foster mom. He couldn’t deny someone who made him think of home and family.

  “Then I’ll accept your chivalrous offer. You may be glad of it in the long run. I’d be constantly asking you to get up so I could use the facilities.”

  “I’m glad it all worked out.”

  “Were you over here on vacation, too?”

  “No, ma’am. I’ve been working near Queenstown as a trail guide.”

  “Hiking?”

  He shook his head. “Horseback.”

  “I thought you looked like a cowboy! I was in Queenstown for a day. Took the tram up the side of the mountain, which was spectacular, but riding through that country would be something. Wasn’t Lord of the Rings filmed in that area?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We took folks to some of those locations. It’s beautiful. I’ve spent the last four years making that ride and I never got tired of it.”

  “Well, now I want to come back.”

  “Then you should.”

  “I just might. I could write down the name of your company and ask for you personally.”

  He smiled. “Sorry, ma’am. I just quit my job and I’m heading home.”

  “Oh! You sounded so enthusiastic that I thought...” She seemed distressed. “I hope I didn’t bring up an unpleasant subject.”

  “No, I loved it there. Seeing Lord of the Rings is what inspired me to save up so I could apply for the job. But someone close to me is getting married in Wyoming. When I started thinking about going home for his wedding, I realized it was time to move back.”

  She sighed in obvious relief. “Well, then, good for you. Wyoming is beautiful, too. I’ve spent time in Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. Where are you from?”

  “Sheridan.”

  “Never been there.”

  “It’s not as well known as Jackson Hole, but there’s nothing like waking up to the sun shining on the Bighorn Mountains. I’ve missed that.” He hadn’t wanted to admit he was homesick after all the effort he’d put into getting to Queenstown. New Zealand was amazing and the folks were friendly as all get-out. But the invitation to Cade and Lexi’s wedding had made him realize he belonged in Wyoming.

  “I’ll bet the ladies in Sheridan will be pleased with your decision to come home.”

  He felt a blush coming on. “I don’t know about that.”

  “Of course they will. You’re handsome, personable and kind. Plus, you wouldn’t even take that boomerang, which is hand-carved, by the way. Sure you won’t change your mind?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’m sure.” Time to switch topics. “Who’s it for?”

  “My oldest grandson. I have six grandchildren all together, four boys and two girls.”

  Austin started asking questions about her grandkids. He always got a kick out of listening to grandparents rave on about their grandchildren. His foster mom sent him constant updates on Sophie, and now another grandbaby was on the way.

  He loved that Rosie had decided to claim the offspring of her foster boys as her grandkids. He looked forward to a time when he’d have a baby he could let Rosie spoil. The concept of a family of his own appealed to him more with every passing day.

  Although he’d met some terrific women in New Zealand, they’d all had one drawback. They’d made it clear from the get-go that they wanted to stay put. If he’d grown up in Queenstown, he’d feel the same.

  So he’d kept his relationships casual even as the urge to settle down had grown stronger. Lexi and Cade’s wedding invitation had been the tipping point.

  Finally it had dawned on him that if he wanted to build a future surrounded by his foster brothers and his foster parents, he needed to look for his life partner in Wyoming. He had a gut feeling she was there waiting for him. All he had to do was find her.

  * * * * *

  Another one of the THUNDER MOUNTAIN BROTHERHOOD is heading home! Read Austin’s story, DO YOU TAKE THIS COWBOY? coming August 2017 only from Harlequin Special Edition!

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  Keep reading for an excerpt from SERENITY HARBOR by RaeAnne Thayne.

  Katrina Bailey’s life is at a crossroads, so when arrogant—but sexy—Bowie Callahan asks for her help caring for his newly discovered half brother, she accepts, never expecting it to turn into something more...

  Read on for a sneak peek at SERENITY HARBOR, the next book in the HAVEN POINT series by New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne available July 2017!

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  Serenity Harbor

  by RaeAnne Thayne

  CHAPTER ONE

  “THAT’S HIM AT your six o’clock, over by the tomatoes. Brown hair, blue eyes, ripped. Don’t look. Isn’t he gorgeous?”

  Katrina Bailey barely restrained from rolling her eyes at her best friend. “How am I supposed to know that if you won’t let me even sneak a peek at the man?” she asked Samantha Fremont.

  Sam shrugged with another sidelong look in the man’s direction. “Okay. You can look. Just make it subtle.”

  Mere months ago, all vital details about her best friend’s latest crush might have been the most fascinating thing the two of them talked about all week. Right now, she found it tough to work up much interest in one more man in a long string of them, especially with everything else she had spinning in her life right now.

  She wanted to ignore Sam’s request and continue on with shopping for the things they needed to take to Wynona’s shower—but friends didn’t blow off their friends’ obsessions. She loved Sam and had missed hanging out with her over the last nine months. It made her sad that their interests appeared to have diverged so dramatically, but it wouldn’t hurt her to act like she cared about the cute newcomer to Haven Point.

  Donning her best ninja spy skills—honed from years of doing this very thing, checking out hot guys without them noticing—she pretended to reach up to grab a can of peas off the shelf. She studied the label intently, all while shifting her gaze toward the other end of the aisle.

  About ten feet away, she spotted two men. Considering she knew Darwin Twitchell well—and he was close to eighty years old and cranky as a badger with gout—the other guy had to be Bowie Callahan, the new director of research and development at the Caine Tech facility in town.

  Years of habit couldn’t be overcome by sheer force of will. That was the only reason her stomach muscles seemed to shiver and her toes curled against the leather of her sandals. Or so she told herself, anyway.

  Okay. She got it. Sam was totally right. The man was indeed great-looking: tall, lean, tanned, with sculpted features and brown hair streaked with the sort of blond highlights that didn’t come from a salon but from spending time outside.

  Under other circumstances, she might have wanted to do more than look. In a different life, perhaps she would have made her way to his end of the aisle, pretended to fumble with an item on the shelf, then dropped it right at his feet so they could “meet” while they both reached to pick it up.

  She used to be such an idiot.

  The old Katrina might not have been able to look away from such a gorgeous male specimen. But when he aimed a ferocious scowl downward, she shifted her gaze to find him frowning at a boy who looked to be about five or six, trying his best to put a box of sugary cereal into their cart and growing visibly upset when Bowie Callahan kept taking it out and putting it back on the shelf.

  Katrina frowned. “You didn’t say he had a kid. I thought you had a strict rule. No divorced dads.”

  “He doesn’t have a kid!” Sam exclaimed.

  “Then who’s the little kid currently winding up for what looks like a world-class tantrum at his feet?”

  Ignoring her own stricture about not staring, Sam whirled around. Her eyes widened with confusion. “I have no idea! I heard it straight from Eliza Caine that he’s not married and doesn’t have a family. He never said anything to me about a kid when I met him at a party at Snow Angel Cove or the other two times I’ve bumped into him around town this spring. I haven’t seen him around for a few weeks. Maybe he has family visiting. Or maybe he’s babysitting or something.”

  That was so patently ridiculous, Katrina had to bite her tongue. Really? Did Sam honestly believe the new director of research and development at Caine Tech would be offering babysitting services—in the middle of the day and on a Monday, no less?

  She sincerely adored Samantha for a million different reasons, but sometimes her friend saw what she wanted to see.

  This latest example of how their paths had diverged in recent months made her a little sad. Until a year ago, she and Sam had been—as her mom would say—two peas of the same pod. They shared the same taste in music, movies, clothes. They could spend hours poring over celebrity and fashion magazines, dishing about the latest gossip, shopping for bargains at thrift stores and yard sales.

  And men. She didn’t even want to think about how many hours of her life she had wasted with Sam, talking about whichever guy they were most interested in that day.

  Samantha had been her best friend since they found each other in junior high in that mysterious way like discovered like.

  She still loved her dearly. Sam was kind and generous and funny, but Katrina’s own priorities had shifted. After the events of the last year, Katrina was beginning to realize she barely resembled the somewhat shallow, flighty girl she had been before she grabbed her passport and hopped on a plane with Carter Ross.

  That was a good thing, she supposed, but she felt a little pang of fear that while on the path to gaining a little maturity, she might end up losing her best friend.

  “Babysitting. I suppose it’s possible,” she said in a noncommittal voice. If so, the guy was really lousy at it. The boy’s face had reddened, and tears had started streaming down his features. By all appearances, he was approaching a meltdown, and Bowie Callahan’s scowl had shifted to a look of helpless frustration.

  “If you want, I can introduce you,” Sam said, apparently oblivious to the drama.

  Katrina purposely pushed their cart forward, in the opposite direction. “You know, it doesn’t look like a good time. I’m sure I’ll have a chance to meet him later. I’ll be in Haven Point for a month. Between Wyn’s wedding and Lake Haven Days, there should be plenty of time to socialize with our newest resident.”

  “Are you sure?” Sam asked, disappointment clouding her gaze.

  “Yeah. Let’s just finish shopping so I have time to go home and change before the shower.”

  Not that her mother’s house really felt like home anymore. Yet another radical change in the last nine months.

  “I guess you’re right,” Sam said, after another surreptitious look over Katrina’s shoulder. “We waited too long, anyway. Looks like he’s moved to another aisle.”

  They found the items they needed and moved to the next aisle as well, but didn’t bump into Bowie again. Maybe he had taken the boy, whoever he was, out of the store so he could cope with his meltdown in private.

  They were nearly finished shopping when Sam’s phone rang with the ominous tone she used to identify her mother.

  She pulled the device out of her purse and glared at it. “I wish I dared to ignore her, but if I do, I’ll hear about it for a week.”

  That was nothing, she thought. If Katrina ignored her mother’s calls while she was in town for Wyn’s wedding, Charlene would probably mount a search and rescue, which was kind of funny when she thought about it. Charlene hadn’t been nearly as smothering when Kat had been living halfway around the world in primitive conditions for the last nine months. But if she dared show up late for dinner, sheer panic ensued.

  “I’m at the grocery store with Kat,” Samantha said, a crackly layer of irritation in her voice. “I texted you that’s where I would be.”

  Her mother responded something Katrina couldn’t hear, which made Sam roll her eyes. To others, Linda Fremont could be demanding and cranky, quick to criticize. Oddly, she had always treated Katrina with tolerance and even a measure of kindness.

  “Do you absolutely need it tonight?” Samantha asked, pausing a moment to listen to her mother’s answer with obvious impatience written all over her features. “Fine. Yes. I can run over. I only wish you had mentioned this earlier, when I was just hanging around for three
hours doing nothing, waiting for someone to show up at the shop. I’ll grab it.”

  She shut off her phone and shoved it back into her little dangly Coach purse that she’d bought for a steal at the Salvation Army in Boise. “I need to stop in next door at the drugstore to pick up one of my mom’s prescriptions. Sorry. I know we’re in a rush.”

  “No problem. I’ll finish the shopping and check out, then we can meet each other at your car when we’re done.”

  “Hey, I just had a great idea,” Sam exclaimed. “After the shower tonight, we should totally head up to Shelter Springs and grab a drink at the Painted Moose!”

  Katrina tried not to groan. The last thing she wanted to do amid her lingering jet lag was visit the local bar scene, listening to the same songs, flirting with the same losers, trying to laugh at their same old, tired jokes.

  “Let’s play it by ear. We might be having so much fun at the shower that we won’t want to leave. Plus it’s Monday night, and I doubt there will be much going on at the PM.”

  She didn’t have the heart to tell Sam she wasn’t the same girl who loved nothing more than dancing with a bunch of half-drunk cowboys—or that she had a feeling she would never be that girl again. Priorities had a way of shifting when a person wasn’t looking.

  Sam stuck her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “Don’t be such a party pooper! We’ve only got a month together, and I’ve missed you so much!”

  Great. Like she needed more guilt in her life.

  “Let’s play it by ear. Go grab your mom’s prescription, I’ll check out and we’ll head over to Julia’s place. We can figure out our after-party plans, well, after the party.”

  She could tell by Sam’s pout that she would have a hard time escaping a late night with her. Maybe she could talk her into just hanging out by the lakeshore and talking.

  “Okay. I guess we’d better hurry if we want to have time to make our salad.”