“Evening,” Lincoln said, propping a boot on the first step.
Not a good evening, not a bad one. It was evening. His main problem? He wanted to help Hank, but he also wanted him to start acting like a father and not another one of Lincoln’s responsibilities.
“Where you been?”
“Just got back from the Shady Grind. Bunch of us wound up there after putting in some time at the old church. It’s a termite infestation.”
“All this time?” Hank scowled. “You spent half the day there.”
“And so did quite a few others. It’ll get done.”
“It’s not fair what they expect of you. Of all you men.”
“You not counting yourself as a man of Stone Ridge anymore?”
“You young men, I mean. Not old farts like me.” He tipped the shot glass to his lips and drained it.
“I don’t mind.”
At least it got him off the ranch, giving him contact with their community, which was important. Those connections were vital to staying human. Healthy. After all, the opposite of addiction was engagement. He’d read that somewhere. Lincoln did not want to wind up like Hank. It must be a lonely existence judging everybody and everything.
“If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times,” Hank said. “Don’t let people take advantage of your generous nature.”
And another thing. So many, including his own father, were under the mistaken impression that Lincoln was kind. Good. But those same people didn’t see him on the circuit, drinking occasionally, but most often cavorting with rodeo queens and the buckle bunnies who followed him from town to town. Instead of being one man among many in Stone Ridge, he’d been regarded as unique due to his championship skills. He would be ashamed to say he enjoyed that feeling of being the center of attention for a short time. For once, he wasn’t just one man in the crowd.
Maybe he was more like his brother than he realized.
* * *
One week later, Lincoln was reminded that when something went wrong on a ranch, it would soon be followed by at least two more. He was now attempting to fix Thing 3. The broke-down tractor. Hank was again out of commission for a day because of his bad back, code for “I drank too much last night.” Lincoln was down to the few ranch hands they hired, fewer this year than last.
It didn’t help that they’d been blessed with another blazing hot day in September. Of course, this morning at dawn the weather was fairly freezing. He’d gone about his day, removing clothes as he went. Now, he stripped off his tee, the last item of clothing he’d remove outside. Bending over the engine, he tightened a nut, then heard the sound of tires kicking up the dirt road to the barn.
He didn’t bother looking up.
One lug nut fastened, he started on the other one. Until it stripped, the force of his wrenching too much.
“Damn! Shit fire! Damn it all to hell!”
Lincoln let loose with a volley of curses since he was all alone out here. Just him and the Texas dirt. He kicked the tractor.
“Lincoln?” came a sweet voice.
He didn’t immediately see the owner of that soft voice, but he’d guess she would be feminine and sexy. And he could use a pretty woman right about now. A sexy woman would get him out of this funk right quick. He could use a little relaxation. A little unwinding. Maybe he’d happened upon another rodeo buckle bunny who’d somehow found out where he lived. Wouldn’t be difficult as everyone in this Podunk town owned loose lips. Picking up the rag to wipe the grease from his fingers, he moved past the tractor in the direction of that sex-on-a-stick voice.
And stopped in his tracks.
Sadie Stephens.
She of the wild cascading blond waves, sensual lips, and amazing ass. The temptress who made his skin tight every time he laid eyes on her. One of the women in town he’d never dated, even before the wedding fail. Because, c’mon, she was so sweet. Innocent. The girl next door with no idea of the effect she had on men.
Occasionally he caught a glance of her with the children, coming in and out of the portable which he’d helped set up in the parking lot of the old church. Renovations came to a screeching halt when someone accidentally hit a plumbing line. Safe to say there were a few more fundraisers ahead of them.
“Hey,” Lincoln said, clearing his throat, and walking over to the fence line.
She’d propped her booted feet on one rail of the fence and clung with both hands. “I can see you’re busy, but this won’t take too much time.”
Most women wore Wranglers, boots, T-shirts and flannel, but Sadie always wore dresses. Short casual dresses, mostly, like today. This one hit right above the knee.
He swallowed. “What can I do for you?”
“I just finished my first full week of teaching and it’s going much better. Eve came to career day and talked about being a vet. The kids loved it.”
He just looked at her quizzically with no idea why any of this involved him.
She smiled but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “And…I thought…well. Eve suggested, actually, and I agree. Maybe you…I thought that maybe…um, could you come and talk to the kids about being a rodeo champ?”
He froze. There was a small fact he didn’t much like to advertise but he didn’t like children. Yeah, yeah. He should like children. I mean, who didn’t like children? They were so needy and completely dependent on you. Often sticky. He’d liked his younger brother and sister fine. As the oldest, he helped raise them after their mother abandoned the family. And on the rodeo circuit, he did his share of meeting the younger fans. Taking pictures, that sort of thing. Usually over within a few minutes.
“I don’t know. Pretty busy here. And the tractor broke down.” He pointed in the direction of the yellow behemoth otherwise known as the bane of his existence.
“It would just take a few minutes of your time.”
Her tone took on a pleading sound and he began to picture what it might sound like if she begged him to take her to bed. To give her a few hours of pleasure. She wouldn’t have to beg for long.
He tried to rein in his thoughts because he must be getting desperate for a woman. But Sadie didn’t look like his friend’s sweet sister today. Not in that short dress. She reminded him of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. And what he wanted was for her to be asking him for anything but career day at the grade school.
“What did you have in mind? A demonstration? Come show them my buckles?”
“Anything you’d like but all of that sounds good. I’m sure they would be happy just to meet you.”
“Really? I already know most of these kids.”
“Yes, but how many have you talked to in person about the rodeo?” She cocked her head.
She’d read his mind. He didn’t talk to any of them. Just waved hello when they were with their parents, pat a head now and again. For God’s sake, he wasn’t a total grump.
“You could demonstrate your roping technique, maybe?” She chewed on her lower lip and his resolve wore thinner.
But no. This had bad idea written all over it. There was already too much to do around here. And he didn’t want to see her again. He wanted to stop thinking about her naked and seeing her again wouldn’t help that situation.
“Tell you what.” He tried a smile. “I will think about it. As soon as I finish fixing this tractor, hauling some hay, tagging the new heifers, and moving our cattle to the north pasture, I should have a little free time.”
The tentative smile slipped off her face because Sadie heard “no” in that sentence, exactly what he wanted her to hear.
“Oh, okay.” She jumped off the fence rail.
Giving up on me so easy, sweetheart? You didn’t much want me to begin with, I’m guessing.
“You let me know, then.” She turned one last time, her long blond hair catching a ray of sunlight.
“I will.” He held up a hand in a wave. “Thanks for dropping by.”
At the end of another long back-breaking day, Lincoln showered
at his cabin and prepared to leave for a beer at the Shady Grind. Stopping to check in on his grandmother he found her in the kitchen. Lillian “Mima” Carver was a force of nature, but she’d helped raised him after his mother, Maggie Mae Carver, left the family high and dry. For that reason alone, he allowed that tornado to sweep over him now and again. The least he could do.
“Hey, there. Goin’ out for a while. You okay?”
There were several skeins of yarn all over the kitchen table and she sat on a chair, doing her thing. Obviously, the knit-a-thon was already in full swing.
“What was that lovely Sadie doin’ over here earlier today?”
“Wanted me to come to career day over at the new school.” He helped himself to a bottled water from the fridge and twisted off the cap.
“That’s a great idea.”
“Nah, I don’t have time for that.”
She dropped her yarn. “Lincoln James Carver, are you turning down a resident in need?”
“This is Sadie Stephens we’re talkin’ about. She’s Eve’s best friend. Are we forgettin’? She’s the one that drove Eve home when she should have been in the church, gettin’ hitched to Jackson! And I’ve helped renovate that church into a school along with everyone else. Remember? I’ve already done my part.”
“What will it take you? Twenty minutes, if that. Sadie needs our help, son. She’s one little girl tryin’ to teach some kids never even been to school before.”
“Sadie is not a little girl and she can handle them.”
“Well, that’s not what I heard.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Ellie Monroe cries once a day, and Jimmy Ray keeps throwin’ his shoe. Lawd above knows why.”
“Jimmy Ray is a brat. Just like his Daddy.”
“Sadie needs people with interesting professions to come talk. She’s of course got more boys than girls so I can see why you’d do well. And if you insist on risking your life with the rodeo, least you can do is show off to the children.”
An interesting twist. She wanted him to be a show-off now. “I thought I was supposed to teach them something.”
“Son, if you’re not goin’ to settle down and have your own children, least you can do is help us raise the ones in town.”
He nearly spit his water out. “When did I sign up for that?”
“When you were born here. That’s what we do in Stone Ridge. We help each other.”
He didn’t mind helping others. It was in his genes and was the way he’d been raised. Last week he’d helped a neighboring rancher pull a cow out of a mud hole he’d been stuck in. But sue him if there had been enough responsibility raising his siblings. It didn’t seem that long ago that he drove Daisy to and from the high school forty minutes away. Listening when she cried because she didn’t have a date to prom night.
For years, he’d run interference between Jackson and Hank. Those two were at odds from the minute Jackson picked up a guitar and found a talent. That talent didn’t fall in line with Hank’s vision for his youngest son. Jackson was off in Nashville doin’ his thing and Lincoln didn’t have to worry about him. Daisy graduated with honors a few years ago and worked as an auto mechanic in Kerrville.
Now, it was Lincoln’s time. His obligations were only to his family and this ranch. And to the town, too, but those were on an as-needed basis. He’d never turn down someone desperately in need of a helping hand. But career day at the local school? Hard pass. They’d do fine without him.
Promising Mima he’d consider the idea, Lincoln left for the Shady Grind for that cold beer. He could have a beer at home, sure, but after a long day he needed to get away from the ranch. Blow off some steam. He immediately caught the eye of Jolette Marie Truehart checking him out as he walked inside and winked. In addition to being the only daughter of the Truehart Horse Ranch dynasty, she held the dubious distinction of being a three-time runaway bride. Runaway brides were not uncommon in their town, but Jolette Marie was also a bona fide buckle bunny.
They’d developed an understanding. She was discreet and neither one of them wanted anything permanent. From time to time they got together for a little no-strings fun. Because Jolette Marie could be all kinds of fun. That “fun” hadn’t happened for some time, though, and he certainly wouldn’t mind a repeat performance. But Lincoln would wait it out tonight. Men in this town chased women like a flea chased a horse, and he refused to be one of them. But if Jolette Marie didn’t find herself interested in anyone else tonight, maybe later they would…talk.
A trill of laughter caught his attention and he turned to see Eve and Sadie surrounded by a small group of men. Unfortunately, Eve caught his eye before he looked away. Damn it.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…
“Hey, Lincoln,” Eve said from behind him.
Naturally, due to the way he’d been raised, he was forced to turn around and smile at the woman who tore his brother’s heart from his chest when she stood him up at the altar of Trinity Church seven years ago. It was in the past, sure, and they’d all moved on. The Iglesias and Carver families were on speaking terms again. Eve scored points with locals when she came back to Stone Ridge after grad school to take over a large animal veterinary practice. And Jackson was better off without her.
Still didn’t make it any easier for Lincoln to forgive her.
He nodded. “How’s it goin’?”
“Good. Sadie and I came out tonight.” She waved Sadie over. “We’re sort of celebrating her first week of teaching. And I did career day at the school today. The kids loved it.”
Here it comes. “I heard.”
“Anyway, it was fun. The kids are cool.”
Lincoln took a pull of his beer and winced. “Even Jimmy Ray?”
Eve laughed. “Well…bless his heart.”
“Yup. Just like his Daddy.”
Eve waved Sadie over again, but the girl just wasn’t moving. She stayed rooted to her spot, taking little swigs from her beer and trying her best not to look directly at him.
“She’s not coming over,” Lincoln said. “I told her I’d think about career day, but she heard no. And she’s probably not very happy with me.”
“No, that’s silly. Sadie doesn’t get mad.”
“Yeah? Hell, then I feel special.”
“Hi,” said a little voice beside him. “Did you fix your tractor?”
He turned to see her shoved between him and the cowboy on the stool beside him. Small enough to fit between them, the soft bare skin of her arm briefly touched his white button-down. She noticed and pulled back.
Please do that again, sweetheart.
From this close, he caught the scent of her hair, a mild flowery scent. He noticed her hazel eyes, specks of yellow and green in them. And she wore the same short dress from earlier this afternoon. She looked so sweet she made it hard for a man to think. She’d asked him a question…or something.
“No.” He cleared his throat. “Tractor’s a bigger problem than I realized. Daisy is going to take a look at it.”
Did he care that his little sister the mechanic might fix something he, as a big bad cowboy, couldn’t? Hell, no. He’d been raised to think better than that.
“Okay.” Sadie took a sip of her beer and seemed to have lost the power of speech.
Eve became involved in a conversation with the man next to her, so she was of no help at all.
“Look, I said I’d think about career day and I meant it. Just…give me a chance to clear the decks.”
Boy, wasn’t he a sucker for a beautiful woman? She’d clearly heard “no” and now he let her hear a big fat “maybe.”
She blinked. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want you to feel obligated. Maybe I could ask Wade.”
The last thing Lincoln wanted was for Wade to demonstrate how egotistical a rodeo cowboy could get when he regularly got thrown off a bucking horse and survived to tell it. His best friend could be an idiot sometimes.
“Wade doesn’t have the time.”
“You mean someone else?” He snorted. “Certainly have your pick of men in Stone Ridge.”
Hell, he hadn’t meant that to come out the way it did. He usually didn’t mind being one of many. Made it easier to fly under the radar since if a woman wanted marriage, she didn’t have to settle for him and could move on. Sometimes easier said than done. A couple of romantic entanglements in the past cost him when the girl claimed to be madly in love and didn’t want anyone else but him. In high school, his girlfriend had a pregnancy scare, and Lincoln aged ten years in five minutes. From that point on, he’d been extremely careful.
“You’re right,” she said and sighed. “I guess I do.”
At that point, Sean Henderson took the stool the ranch hand vacated. “Hey, there, Sadie. You busy tonight?”
Pretty bold of him but Sean was confident. Lincoln stared straight ahead while taking a pull of his beer.
“Um, I’m here with Eve. We’re celebrating my first week of teaching.”
“I love celebrating. And I’m good at it.” He winked. “Let me get you a drink. Whatcha drinkin’?”
“It’s just a beer. But I—”
“Hey, ’Cilla, let me have another beer for Sadie. We’re celebrating.”
Alright then. And they were off to the races. “I’m just gonna leave you two alone.”
“Aw, thanks, bud!” Sean clapped Lincoln’s back.
Lincoln stood and stretched, wandering over to the old-fashioned jukebox. He leaned against it, trying to be interested in the selection of old-time country classics, from Johnny Cash to Merle Haggard. He preferred the new country sound, people like Sam Hunt and Brad Paisley, but Priscilla said it was too expensive to buy those newer tunes and nearly impossible to update this hunk of junk.
Sometimes this old town grated on him. He stayed because of his family. Because of the ranch. And there were decent people here, too, real salt of the earth folks who cared about each other. But sometimes, he wished there was a movie theater in town…or something.
Lucky Cowboy Page 3
