by Marin Thomas
He was hoping that when she finally came to terms with her pregnancy, she’d jump at the chance to marry him. But that might not happen right away, so he’d decided to turn his personal room into a quiet retreat for Lydia and the baby when they came to visit. He wanted the space to be comfortable so they’d spend more time in Stampede and give him a chance to court Lydia properly.
“I can’t believe after all these years you’ve given up your room,” Logan said.
Gunner had surprised himself, too. The first time Lydia had mentioned renovating room 1, he’d objected. But then he’d figured out why he’d been attached to the room. The number one had been a symbol of his freedom—his desire to remain single. A guy couldn’t mess up if he was accountable only to himself. With his family history, Gunner had never wanted to be responsible for anyone else’s happiness but his own. There was a lot less pain involved in letting only yourself down versus letting others down.
But Lydia and the baby were changing his mind and he was ready to accept all the responsibility that came with raising a child and being in a committed relationship—the good and the bad. The joy and the pain.
The only way he knew to show Lydia he was ready to leave the old Gunner behind and embrace a new life with her and their baby was to turn his room into their room.
“How did you pay for all this?” Logan asked.
“I didn’t charge this on the ranch credit card, if you’re worried about that.” His brother looked away, but not before Gunner saw the relieved expression on his face. Before he could ask if something was wrong, Logan’s phone went off.
While his brother stepped outside to take the call, Gunner went into the bathroom and opened the delivery box containing a baby monitor and video camera that he’d ordered online. He planned to install the camera in the room so if he was watching the baby and needed to go to the office, he could keep an eye on the little tyke.
Logan stepped back into the room and said, “What if all this doesn’t impress Lydia?”
“Then I’ll keep searching for something that does.” He set the camera and monitor on the bed and perused the assembly directions.
“Why didn’t you wait until you knew for sure if Lydia would move back to Stampede before spending all this money?”
“She said she wouldn’t keep me from being involved in the baby’s life. That means I’ll have shared custody and I need a safe place for my kid when I work.”
“What happens to the baby when you’re off rodeoing?”
“I won’t rodeo when I have the baby, but if I need to go somewhere, I’ve got it all figured out,” Gunner said.
“How’s that?”
“Amelia’s offered to babysit if I need her to and she has lady friends in town who are dying to watch the baby, too.” He nodded to the phone in his brother’s hand. “Who was that?”
“Gramps. He’s taking Amelia to Mesquite to try out the new steak house that just opened there.”
“Does Gramps want you to chaperone them?”
Logan shook his head. “They’re on their own this time.”
“I don’t get their relationship.”
“They’ve been getting along better since the motel renovations were completed.” Logan nodded to the stack of flyers on the bed. “Is Lydia returning for the grand opening?”
“I invited her, but I don’t know if she’ll come.” If she didn’t show up, then Gunner would make another trip to Wisconsin and another and another until he convinced her to come back with him.
Logan nodded to the crib. “For what it’s worth, I think you’ll be a great dad.”
The door closed, leaving Gunner alone in the room with his doubts.
* * *
“PIPE DOWN NOW so I can get this speech over with.”
Lydia swallowed a laugh as Emmett stood in the bed of his old jalopy in front of the Moonlight Motel and squinted into the afternoon sunlight.
After arriving in town a few minutes ago, Lydia had driven to the motel and parked the rental car behind the long line of vehicles on the shoulder of the highway. She’d slipped into the crowd, wearing a floppy hat and sunglasses, hoping no one would recognize her and coerce her into giving a speech.
Emmett cleared his throat and the crowd quieted. “The Moonlight Motel has been a part of Stampede for decades and I thought it looked just fine the way it was, but Ms. Amelia Rinehart said it needed a face-lift.” Applause echoed through the group.
“I bought this place for my wife, Sara. She said it brought back memories of her family vacations as a child.” Emmett wiped the sweat from his brow. “Sara always wanted to see this place fixed up and I know she’d be real proud of the way it looks now.” He cleared his throat again. “Since Amelia Rinehart is responsible for this renovation, she might as well be the one to talk about it.” Emmett extended his hand to Lydia’s aunt, who climbed the makeshift steps up to the truck bed. While her aunt chatted about the Hollywood-movie themes for the rooms, Lydia’s eyes searched for Gunner.
It took only a moment to find his broad shoulders in the crowd. He wore a sky blue Western shirt, his cowboy hat and her favorite jeans of his—the pair with a rip in the back pocket. Beads of perspiration dotted her upper lip—she was nervous, excited and scared all at once. Her heart had known the moment Gunner had left the apartment a few weeks ago that she’d be back in Stampede. It had just taken a little longer to convince her brain that he was her perfect match. Once she’d let go of the fear, she’d known in her heart that she and Gunner and their baby were meant to be together.
“I wish I could take all the credit for this wonderful remodel, but my great-niece Lydia Canter designed the rooms, and many thanks to Karl Schmidt and Emmett’s grandson Gunner. They did most of the heavy lifting.” More applause.
“I hope you’ll stay and look at the rooms, then help yourself to the barbecue on the patio behind the motel. Please tell your friends and family to book a room at the Moonlight the next time they visit Stampede. And just so you know—” Amelia glanced at Emmett, who looked bored to death “—this is only the beginning of our plans to revitalize our town.” Amelia turned off the microphone and Lydia couldn’t hear whatever Emmett grumbled in her aunt’s ear.
The older couple climbed down from the truck bed, then went into the office—probably to argue over the next renovation project her aunt had up her sleeve. The crowd dispersed to check out the rooms, but Lydia’s attention focused on Gunner, who remained behind in the parking lot. He must have sensed her presence, because he turned around.
His eyes widened as she walked toward him. “You came for the reveal,” he said.
She pulled in a steadying breath. “I came for you. For us. For our baby.” If she hadn’t been so nervous, she might have laughed at his incredulous expression.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
She smiled, cursing her shaky lips. “Yes. I’ll marry you, Gunner. And yes, I’ll move to Stampede.”
He pulled her into his arms and she buried her face against his shirt. “I’ll do my best to make you not regret this.”
She slipped her arms around his waist. “The only thing I regret is not listening to my heart sooner.”
“What do you mean?”
She looked him in the eye. “I love you, Gunner. I loved you before I found out I was pregnant. I just wouldn’t give you a chance because—”
“I don’t fit with any of the dating profiles you were looking at?”
His eyes shone with laughter.
“Actually, I discovered I’d been using the wrong criteria when searching for possible husband candidates.” She smiled. “I need a man who will make me laugh and won’t let me work too hard. I need a man who will show me how to enjoy the little things in life.”
“Then I’m your man.” He reached under the brim of h
er hat and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “And I need you to hold my feet to the fire and make me accountable.”
“Then I’m your woman.”
“We can live in Wisconsin if you want. As long as we’re together, I don’t care where we settle down,” he said.
There was so much more to Gunner than he let others see and Lydia was just discovering the extent of his generosity.
“Stampede has grown on me. And Aunt Amelia isn’t going to be around forever—neither is your grandfather. I think we should live here and raise our child.”
He hugged her tight.
“You can keep rodeoing and I’ll work on my interior-design business while I watch over the motel.”
“You’re not making all the sacrifices, Lydia. I may pick up a rodeo here or there, but I’m done trying to make a living at it. I’m ready to manage the motel and start pulling my weight.”
“But I want you to be happy,” she said.
“I enjoy rodeo, but I love you. When you became pregnant, I realized that my life had been going nowhere for a long time. You and the baby have given me purpose and direction. I’ll manage the motel and you manage your decorating business.”
She stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
“I have something to show you.” He took her hand and led her to room 1, then slid a keycard through the new card-reader lock and opened the door.
Lydia stepped inside and gasped. “Oh, Gunner.” Tears stung her eyes. “It’s beautiful.” She walked over to the crib and trailed her fingers across the rail. “How did you know?”
“I saw you looking at the furniture at the rodeo. I got the lady’s card before I caught up with you. After you left, I contacted her and we struck a deal.” He brushed a tear from her cheek. “I figured no matter what happened between us that you’d honor your word and allow me to be a part of the baby’s life. I wanted to have a place close by for both of you when you visited.”
Gunner nodded to the vintage desk he’d found at a flea market. “I thought you could do your design work here while the baby’s sleeping.”
“What happened to your grandmother’s rocking chair?”
“It’s still in the office.” He shrugged. “If I’m taking care of the baby and watching the front desk at the same time, I figured it would come in handy if I had to feed the little bugger.”
An image of Gunner rocking their baby brought more tears to her eyes. “Is that a camera?” She pointed to the ceiling.
“Yep. You can see everything in the room on the monitor at the front desk. There’s another camera in the office, so I’ll know if anyone walks in while I’m here with the baby—” he waggled an eyebrow “—or you.”
Life with Gunner would never be dull. Lydia poked her head into the bathroom and saw the baby tub and water toys. “You thought of everything.” She hugged him. “I can’t believe you turned your bachelor pad into a nursery.”
“I can’t believe you turned this cowboy into a daddy.” He kissed her, then tilted his head toward the brand-new double bed.
“It needs to be christened,” he said.
She struggled not to smile. “How can I refuse such a romantic invitation?”
Gunner walked over to the door and threw the bolt, then closed the curtains.
They tumbled onto the mattress. Clothes landed haphazardly on the floor as their kisses grew heated, their touches more urgent. Then they froze when someone knocked.
“Gunner, you in there?”
“I’m busy, Gramps.”
“Doing what?”
“He’s busy with me, Mr. Hardell.”
“Lydia? Is that you?” her aunt called.
Gunner grinned.
“It’s me, Aunt Amelia.”
“Are you and Gunner...?”
“Yes, Aunt Amelia.”
“C’mon, Emmett, leave the lovebirds alone.”
“It’s the middle of the day. That ain’t decent.”
“Stop being such a fuddy-duddy. You were young once. You remember what it felt like to...”
Lydia giggled and buried her face in Gunner’s neck.
“Everyone out there will know what we’re doing,” Gunner said.
“Forget about them and kiss me.”
Gunner obliged and an hour later Lydia fell asleep, her last thought being that she had to check her bank statement to make sure SavvyMatch.com had canceled her membership fee.
* * * * *
If you loved this novel, don’t miss
the next book by Marin Thomas in the
COWBOYS OF STAMPEDE, TEXAS series!
Available September 2017
from Harlequin Western Romance!
Keep Reading For An Excerpt From THE COWBOY UPSTAIRS By Tanya Michaels.
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The Cowboy Upstairs
by Tanya Michaels
Chapter One
“Sorry—I was trying to listen, but I got distracted by the hot cowboy in tight jeans.” Even as Hadley made the apology, her gaze remained fixed across the dining room of the barbecue restaurant. The two women on either side of her craned their heads to look.
Across the table from the oglers, Becca Johnston sighed in exasperation. “Ladies, this is Cupid’s Bow. Good-looking cowboys in Wranglers are a common occurrence. What’s uncommon is a female mayor. So, could we focus?” If Becca won the election—no, when she won—she would be only the third woman in the town’s hundred-year history to be mayor.
Sierra Bailey, seated next to Becca, smiled in encouragement, not at all distracted by the prospect of a hot cowboy—probably because she went home to her own cowboy every night. Locals had been placing bets on when her devoted rancher would officially pop the question. “You’re going to make a wonderful mayor.”
“Thank you.” Becca truly appreciated the other woman’s support and all the hours she’d spent volunteering on the campaign, in addition to her full-time job as a physical therapist. “You’re forgiven for your poster idea.” Sierra had suggested the slogan Vote for Our Favorite Control Freak!
“If it helps,” Sierra said, “I meant it as a compliment. As Jarrett will tell you, I tend toward the bossy side myself.”
In Becca’s opinion, there was nothing freakish about wanting a life that was calm and controlled. Growing
up in a house with six kids, she’d craved order. Now she planned to give that gift to her friends and neighbors.
Hadley refocused on the conversation, a glint in her dark eyes; the town librarian wasn’t as blatantly outspoken as Sierra or Becca, but God help you if you defaced a book or interrupted patrons trying to read and study in peace. “In men, they call it leadership skills, but women get called ‘bossy.’ I say good for you—both of you—for not being afraid to take charge.”
It isn’t like anyone ever gave me a choice. Unwanted responsibility had been thrust on Becca as a kid. And again two years ago when her real estate agent husband fled town after a shady investment, leaving her a suddenly single mom struggling to pay the bills. Some money from a late uncle had helped her survive while she brainstormed new revenue streams, but survival wasn’t enough. She wanted to triumph.
While Hadley had, thankfully, regained her concentration, Irene and Anita were still staring after the unseen cowboy.
“Who do you think he is?” Anita asked with a sigh. “Besides my future husband.”
“Wait—none of you recognize him?” Becca swiveled in her chair, craning her head for a better look. She needed to know as many constituents as possible; if he was new to town, she should introduce herself. Then again, if a “hot cowboy” had just moved to Cupid’s Bow, wouldn’t she have heard the gossip by now? The local grapevine prided itself on speed and thoroughness.
She blinked at her first glimpse of the man. Wow. Hadley hadn’t exaggerated his appeal. Unlike her friends, Becca wasn’t usually drawn to rugged men. Her ideal type was more polished and urbane, like her ex-husband.
The man in the weathered straw cowboy hat stood facing local rancher Brody Davenport as they waited for a table; she could see only the stranger’s profile, but it was impressive. Beneath the brim of his hat, a few curls of rich brown hair fell toward his eyes. His striking cheekbones were flawless and not even the unshaven stubble of an auburn-tinged beard lessened the effect of his strong jaw. And then there were his wide shoulders, corded forearms and, as promised, the breathtaking way he filled out his je—
