Colorado Cowboy - Includes a bonus novella

by Sara Richardson

  “I’ll talk to him.” He had no problem letting the man know that kind of idiot behavior wouldn’t be tolerated in his town. “But I figured you should get some air.” It had already helped. Her eyes were fiery again instead of wild, and the red splotches on her face had faded. Damn. For the life of him, he couldn’t seem to look away.

  She had no idea how much power she had over him, with that stubborn lift to her chin and the traces of righteous anger still evident in her features. Every time her eyes met his he felt his heart stutter. They were as blue as the topaz gems his dad found hidden in the mountains at the edge of town. Blue and mesmerizing. As always, Charity looked away too soon. He’d noticed that about her whenever they happened to be hanging out with their mutual friends. She always tried to hide, even when she was standing a foot away from him.

  Dev had noticed a lot about her since she’d moved to town over two years ago. She said what she thought and stood her ground and carried herself with an air of impenetrable armor. But he’d also seen her cry at Mateo and Everly’s wedding. And she always signed autographs at the local competitions, not caring that the line of kids waiting to see her typically stretched on and on along the fence. She would stay as long as it took, kneeling down to greet all of them on their level, taking the time to learn their names, to answer their questions, to pose for pictures. He’d noticed that was when she smiled the biggest. When she was sharing her passion with kids.

  Now, though, she didn’t smile. Her face had paled and dark circles seemed to spread under her eyes as she stood in the shadows of the bar.

  That protective fight surged in him again, but he approached her slowly, stopping himself before he got too close. “You want to talk about anything?” Like why her hands still gripped her arms so tight. Or why that confrontation in there had drained the color from her face. Far as he knew, Charity didn’t talk much about her past. There was likely a reason for that.

  Even before she shook her head, he knew she’d refuse. “Nope. I’m perfectly fine.” Her eyes steered clear of his.

  Dev accepted the refusal with a nod. “Let me know if you ever change your mind.”

  Her face tensed, indicating that she wouldn’t confide in him, even if he interrogated her, even if he gave her truth serum; she’d keep her secrets to herself.

  He could’ve walked away, but he waited until her eyes met his once more. “Just so you know, if I wasn’t a cop, I would’ve let you kick his ass.”

  Surprise bowed her eyebrows. “You think I could’ve?”

  He had to laugh. “Oh yeah.”

  A trace of a smile perked up her mouth.

  He smiled back and started to walk away.

  “Dev?” Uncertainty quieted her voice.

  He stopped. “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for getting me out of there.” Charity walked over to him and shocked him with a squeeze on his hand.

  Chapter Two

  Dev’s hand was warmer than she’d anticipated. Warm and strong. His fingers brushed over Charity’s knuckles, setting off a trill that went skimming all the way down her spine. “I should go.” She quickly dropped his hand and backed up a step. “Gotta be up early tomorrow. Ace likes training in the mornings best. He’s always raring to go. Right after sunup.” As if Dev cared about her horse’s training preferences.

  What was it about this man that always made her babble? Charity wouldn’t classify herself as bubbly and talkative. She didn’t know what to do with Dev, that was the problem. He didn’t treat her like one of the guys. Didn’t look at her like Levi, Ty, and Mateo did. To be fair, she didn’t look at him like one of the guys either. She could pick out her colleagues’ flaws from ten feet away, but that was much harder to do with Dev. His eyes always seemed to draw her in. They were a deep shade of brown, calming and vigilant. They held a quiet wisdom and always seemed to be keeping watch.

  She did her best to avoid those eyes. They did things. Made her feel things.

  And his eyes weren’t the only feature she did her best not to notice. She might not be interested in dating, but she could still appreciate a man’s best features, and Dev had plenty of them. A powerful jaw. Light brown hair that never seemed to muss whether he’d been wearing his cowboy hat or not. Then there was his body…strong and broad. Taller than most of the cowboys she hung around with. And the way he filled out a pair of jeans or those uniform pants he wore…well, let’s just say she always had to look at least twice.

  “You okay?” Dev asked, tilting his head as though seeking out her gaze. He had this quiet confidence that unnerved her and intrigued her at the same time.

  “I’m great.” Totally and one hundred percent together. Not flustered at all. “Just tired. It’s been a helluva day.”

  “I can give you a ride home.” He gestured to his shined-up sheriff’s department SUV across the parking lot.

  “Oh. No thanks.” Heat flashed across her face. She never should’ve touched his hand. Never should’ve reached out. Something had changed in the air between them.

  “I walked.” She busted out a smile. “We’re only a few blocks from home. Actually, I like walking. It’s good exercise. Energizing. Really gets the blood pumping. I read that walking modifies your nervous system so much that it can decrease anger and hostility.” Jeezum. Shut the hell up, Charity. Everyone already knew she had anger issues. Didn’t have to remind Dev after what had happened in the bar. Instead of making fun of her like her friends, though, he’d somehow defused her, which had been really…sweet.

  Oh crap, she’d looked him in the eyes—those soothing reassuring eyes—and now she was trapped. She couldn’t make herself look away.

  “I like walking too,” Dev said, obviously doing his best to take the edge off the awkwardness she’d managed to wedge between them with all of the random facts and weird staring.

  Giving herself a slight head shake, Charity set out into the parking lot before she could continue to prattle on about the benefits of walking. “Thanks again, Dev,” she muttered on her way past him. “You probably saved me a trip to the slammer. I owe you big.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, Charity.”

  She paused to peek back over her shoulder.

  Dev stood there and watched her walk away, but she couldn’t read the look on his face. Was that a small smile? Maybe intrigue? Amusement? Didn’t matter. She had to get out of here. Her thoughts and emotions never jumbled together this way. It was Don Juan Bull Rider’s fault. He’d had to go and make eyes at Gracie, which in turn had knocked Charity back a good fifteen years into a past she rarely allowed herself to visit.

  Doing her best to shrug off the evening, she walked through the abandoned field behind the Tumble Inn and made it to the sidewalk at the edge of Main Street, already feeling some of the tension melt away. The sun had started to set over the peaks to the west, swirling the sky with orange and pink and, on the very fringes, a purplish glow that signaled night was coming. A long sigh expelled the rest of her hostility toward Don Juan Bull Rider. She swore those mountains had magical powers.

  Topaz Falls was a world away from the flat plains of Oklahoma—and the colorless memories of her past. When Levi Cortez had first invited her out here for an event a few years ago, she hadn’t planned on falling in love with the place. She’d been a lot of places in her career, and she’d never fallen in love with any of them. But the ridiculous beauty here somehow worked its way under her skin and made a place for itself in her heart.

  Charity slowed her pace when she turned onto Main Street. It was like stepping onto the set of one of those Hallmark movies. Not that she watched them. Okay, she’d watched one. Once. It came on and she couldn’t find the remote, thanks to hosting a poker game with the guys the night before. They’d been fighting over whether to watch baseball or NASCAR, and in the struggle, somehow they’d cued up the Hallmark Channel and then they’d gone and lost the remote. It took her a whole day to find it stuffed deep into the couch, and in the meantime, she’d manually turned
on the TV for some background noise. The movie hadn’t been that bad. A small-town love story where everything got seriously complicated but worked out in the end. And, sure, okay, it had made her tear up a little.

  Anyway, downtown Topaz Falls had that same Hallmarky feel—cobblestone sidewalks, iron lampposts that were decorated for each season. Currently they were adorned with banners touting the Topaz Falls Rodeo Days along with cheesy props like horseshoes and saddles. Nostalgic little shops like the ice cream parlor and general store were intermixed with more modern establishments, like her friend Darla’s wine bar and chocolate confectionary. But all of them had that same welcoming appeal with their large storefront windows and striped awnings stretching overhead. Being that it was nearly summer, flowers plumed from hanging pots that were clustered around small dwarfed trees growing right out of the sidewalks in the middle of every block.

  She’d never imagined herself living in a quintessential town—or becoming attached to it—but now that she was here, she couldn’t picture herself leaving.

  After passing the Chocolate Therapist, Charity veered left onto Columbine Drive, where she’d lucked out with one of the best rentals in town. It sat in a sprawling neighborhood, among older custom homes with large, half-acre lots. Hers had been built at the end of the street, backing to the river. It wasn’t a palace by any means, just a simple A-frame log structure. But the floor-to-ceiling windows on the backside of the house had the best view of Topaz Mountain towering beyond the river in the distance. In fact, that’s where she’d sit now. In her overstuffed chair positioned right next to the window so she could watch the sunset—

  Wait. Charity squinted against the sun’s glare. Was that a car in her driveway? She jogged around the bend in the street until she could get a better view. Yes. There was a beat-up Honda Civic sitting in her driveway. With Oklahoma plates.

  Dread seeped in and drowned all the good feelings her walk home had filled her with. She sprinted the rest of the way and cut across the green lawn. When the driver’s side came into view, Charity stopped cold. What on earth was her sister doing here?

  The door swung open and Melody popped out. “Surprise!” she called as though it was the most normal thing in the world for her to stop by.

  Charity couldn’t move. She hadn’t seen her sister in ten years, but it could’ve easily been twenty with the way those years had changed Melody. Her once full-bodied blond hair hung limply around her shoulders. And she’d lost weight. Even with that big smile, her face seemed sunken, almost skeletal.

  Charity shifted her gaze back to the car, her eyes searching. “Oh god.” Bodie, her thirteen-year-old nephew, sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window at them.

  “Well, aren’t you going to say something?” Melody demanded, holding out her arms like she wanted a hug.

  A hug? Was this some kind of sick joke? The last time they’d stood face-to-face Melody had told Charity she never wanted to see her again. She’d cut Charity off from the nephew she’d adored. She’d insisted she didn’t want Charity’s help or opinion on anything having to do with raising a child.

  “What’re you doing here?” The words tripped out of Charity’s mouth. Even with the setting sun beaming on her face, a hollow coldness settled in her stomach.

  “What do you mean?” Melody kept that phony smile intact. “I wanted to see my little sis! And Bodie wanted to see his auntie!” She swung her head toward the car. “Come on out, Bodes! Say hi to Auntie Charity!”

  The kid took his time getting out of the car, which gave Charity the opportunity to face her sister. “You said you never wanted to see me again.” Because she’d confronted Melody about her lifestyle. Charity had worried about Bodie back then. He’d been only three, and Melody kept moving around, living with whoever she happened to be dating at the time, just like their mom. Charity had seen the same evidence of neglect she’d experienced in her own childhood. The constant parties in the house—the drugs and alcohol lying around. “So what’s changed, Mel?” she asked. “Do you need money or something? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  Her sister sighed loudly. “Of course not. Everything’s fine. Can’t we just forget about the past?” There was an emptiness to the words, but Charity didn’t have time to address it before Bodie joined them.

  At the sight of her nephew, Charity’s heart swelled. Good god. He’d grown up. The little cherub she remembered still hid in Bodie’s features, but his dark hair had grown out, feathering down around his jaw, and he stood only a few inches shorter than her. Back when she used to babysit him, he’d grinned all the time—a big open-mouthed grin that had radiated pure delight. But now his face held a cold hardness, and those blue eyes that looked so much like her own drooped with disinterest. “Bodie…” her eyes stung. So much for never crying. One sight of this boy she’d loved was all it took. “God, it’s good to see you.” Did he remember her? Did he remember how she used to carry him around everywhere when he was a toddler? How she’d take him to the house Charity shared with her mother for days at a time while her sister was off getting high with her friends?

  “Say hi to your aunt.” Melody poked him in the ribs.

  “Hey.” He raised his head but didn’t look at her directly.

  “He’s shy,” Melody said, brushing aside his indifference. “But such a looker, right? He definitely inherited our genes.”

  Charity’s throat tightened. She couldn’t stop looking at him. How could this be little Bodie? I’m sorry. The words got stuck. She was sorry she hadn’t been able to help him, to give him a different life from the one she’d known. But after she’d confronted Melody, Charity hadn’t been able to find her sister.

  “We were hoping we could bunk up with you for a night.” Melody slung an arm around her son. “We’re on our way out west. I got a lead on a job in California, so we’re making a road trip out of it. Right, Bodes?”

  “Right,” he muttered, staring a hole through his black combat boots.

  Charity assessed her sister. “You got a job?”

  Melody laughed. “Don’t sound so surprised. You’re not the only one who can be successful, you know.”

  “I know.” But success required staying clean and avoiding the kinds of losers her sister couldn’t seem to live without. At least back then. Maybe she’d changed. “What’s the job?” she asked, hoping for Bodie’s sake her sister had an answer.

  “A friend of mine works at a winery in Napa. She said they’d hire me no problem. Doesn’t it sound perfect? Selling wine? Meeting hot guys who come in for a tasting?”

  “Sure. Yeah. That sounds great.” Charity couldn’t seem to smile back at her sister. It might’ve sounded great if it hadn’t been for the comment about hot guys. Her sister had a pattern of searching for a man to rescue her. The problem was, most of the men she ended up with weren’t exactly white knights.

  “So can we stay tonight or what?” Melody demanded.

  “Of course you can stay.” Charity finally caught Bodie’s gaze and smiled at him. Maybe it was good they were moving away from Oklahoma. Maybe her sister needed a new start. If she really wanted to try, Charity would offer all of her support. “You can stay as long as you want.”

  “Thanks, sis!” Melody did hug her then, squeezing tight enough that Charity could smell the lingering scent of pot emanating from her sister’s hair.

  That was all it took to remind her she definitely didn’t live in a Hallmark movie.

  Chapter Three

  Charity had never considered herself the hostess with the mostest but even she could make a mean batch of blueberry pancakes. She eyed the small puddles of batter she’d poured onto the griddle, and stood at the ready to flip them as soon as those tiny bubbles appeared.

  Normally this cooking breakfast gig wasn’t her thing. Heck, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d even had company. For her, the term guest room meant storage for her extra saddles and ropes and other gear she would’ve kept in a barn, if she had one. But she h
adn’t minded the company as much as she’d initially thought she would.

  Sure, last night had been a little awkward. She’d thrown some burgers on the grill and she, Melody, and Bodie had sat down to a late dinner. Communication from her nephew had been sparse, consisting mainly of grunted answers to questions, but she supposed that was to be expected of a thirteen-year-old kid who didn’t know her from the clerk at the grocery store. Melody had chatted on and on about their childhood as though it had been nothing short of a grand adventure—the frequent moves, the glamorous men their mother had dated. Not quite the way Charity remembered it, but she had to give her sister credit for trying to put a positive spin on things.

  After dinner, she’d cleared enough space in the guest room for Melody, and then blew up her camping mattress and stuck it in her office for Bodie. Before they’d said good night, her sister had grown suddenly serious when she thanked Charity for letting them stay. Instead of the flighty act, Melody had looked her in the eyes. No, really. Thank you, Char. It’s so good to see you, she’d said.

  That was the sole reason Charity stood in the kitchen flipping pancakes. That was the reason she’d texted Levi, Mateo, and Ty to tell them she wouldn’t make it to their morning training session. The look on her sister’s face last night had given her hope. Maybe Mel had really changed. Maybe she was truly trying to seek out a better life for her and her son. God, she hoped so.

  Steam rose off the pancakes and Charity flipped them over, admiring the golden brown crust. They looked exactly like the pancakes her friend Everly Brooks made at the Farm Café every day, though they wouldn’t taste the same. Everly refused to give up the secret ingredient that had made her pancakes famous.

  Tapping the spatula against the tiled countertop, Charity glanced at the clock. Already almost nine. If she let Mel and Bodie sleep in anymore, the pancakes would get cold. Besides that, last night her sister had said they needed to get an early start this morning.