Certified Cowboy (25 page)

Kenny swallowed hard, then looked at his mother and began to talk.

“My daddy…I loved him,” Kenny said in a quiet voice. “But he wasn’t a very nice man.”

The room seemed to still, the silence ominous as Kenny gave a detailed account of the way his father had treated his mother, everything from calling her cruel, ugly names to hitting her to threatening them both.

By the time he was finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the courtroom, including the men’s. Rachel’s heart was on her face as she struggled to control her emotions. But shame also reddened her cheeks.

Johnny gritted his teeth. Hadn’t he felt that same shame when his father had hit him? Shame he hadn’t deserved any more than Rachel or Kenny did?

He hoped Rex Presley was rotting in his grave.

Johnny vowed to spend the rest of his life convincing both of them that they were lovable and hadn’t been to blame.

T
HE JUDGE POUNDED
HIS
GAVEL
. “Ms. Presley, in light of the evidence and testimony I’ve heard today, and evidence pointing to Rex Presley as the prime suspect in the murder of a prominent judge and his wife, I’m dismissing all charges against you. You are free to go.”

Shock echoed through Rachel’s body as the courtroom erupted into cheers and the officer removed Rachel’s handcuffs. Kenny raced to her and she swept him up in her arms, tears flowing. She and her son were free now. Free to have a real life. Kenny clung to her, his chest heaving.

“You did great, bud. But I’m sorry you had to talk in court.”

Kenny pulled back and looked up at her, his arms still looped around her neck. “I just tolded the truth, Mommy. That’s what cowboys do.”

She laughed through her tears and hugged him again, then Ms. Ellen was hugging her, and Johnny approached. His tanned skin looked pale, his arm was in a sling and pain was etched in his eyes, but he was also smiling.

“You don’t have to run anymore, Rachel.”

She knew he had footed the bill for her lawyer. “I…thank you, Johnny. I don’t know how to repay you.”

He shook his head and started to say something else, but the kids gathered around, cutting him off. They were clapping Kenny on the back and treating him like a hero. She couldn’t believe they had all shown up to support her.

She’d been alone so long that she didn’t know how to handle the instant closeness she felt with them.

She didn’t want to let any of them go.

Although, because she’d lied to Brody and had endangered others, Brody might insist she leave.

And even if he allowed her and Kenny to stay at the ranch, Johnny would be leaving to go home. She sighed.

He would take her heart with him when he did.

J
OHNNY WANTED TO
GRAB
Rachel and Kenny up in a hug, but everyone had swarmed around them and, dammit, he was feeling light-headed.

He hated to be weak, but this bullet had knocked him on his butt.

“You need to go back to the hospital,” Brody said.

“No way, take me back to the ranch.” He stepped forward but had to grip the rail to keep from passing out. “About Rachel—”

“Ms. Ellen offered to drive her back to the ranch.”

Johnny wanted to protest, but the room swayed and he was so damn weak that he staggered sideways like a drunk. So he let Brody lead him outside and cart him back to the ranch. Twenty-four hours later, he stirred from a dead sleep, sore and achy and disoriented. He hadn’t talked to Rachel since the hearing.

What if she had taken Kenny and they’d already left? He had to talk to her, tell her that he loved her.

But what if she didn’t love him in return?

He dragged himself from bed and stared at himself in the mirror. Thick beard stubble and gritty eyes made him look like a hellion. He ran some water in the sink, lathered his face and shaved, then climbed in the shower. A half hour later, he was dressed and feeling somewhat human again. He was even hungry for the first time since the shooting, so he went down to the kitchen, grabbed some coffee and a piece of toast, then yanked on his Stetson and headed outside.

Night was setting in, moonlight glimmering off the path to Rachel’s cabin. The ranch seemed eerily quiet after the excitement of the rodeo, and the first camp session was drawing to a close. In the distance, he spotted a campfire and realized the counselors were holding the closing ceremonies tonight.

If Rachel and Kenny hadn’t left, they would be there.

He strode toward the site, voices and laughter reaching him in the evening breeze. In the distance, he heard the sound of cows mooing and horses galloping, sounds that meant home.

He paused at the edge of the camp, searching for Rachel and her son. When he found them across the way, he breathed in relief.

The counselors were announcing the final awards.

“Ricardo earns the award for the most points scored in the individual events, and Willie receives an award for the best sport.”

Blair took the podium with a wide grin. “And our last award goes to Kenny Presley for honesty and bravery.”

Rachel’s face lit with pride as Kenny stepped up and accepted the award. Everyone clapped and cheered, then the counselors started a round of songs. Rachel glanced at him across the campfire, and their gazes locked.

She looked so damn beautiful that his heart stopped.

He swallowed back emotions, then walked toward her. She met him outside the campfire beneath a Texas red oak.

“Johnny…” Pain laced her voice. “I was so worried about you.”

“And I was afraid you’d be gone.”

“Brody said I could stay and work here.”

A moment of insecurity clawed at Johnny. What if he confessed his love and she couldn’t return it? What if she’d only needed him because of her ex? “Do you want to stay?”

Her eyes glowed in the moonlight, crystal pools of longing and need and vulnerability, all the things that had attracted him to her in the first place.

But something else sparked there, as well. Something that gave him courage.

“Kenny and I do love it here,” she said softly. “And Kenny adores Cleo and the pups and riding and…everything about ranch life.”

“What about you?”

Rachel glanced down at her hands where she’d knotted them together. “I love it, too. I feel like we’ve finally found a family. A home.”

Was it just the ranch she loved, or did she love him?

“I want you and Kenny to be happy,” he said in a gruff voice. Hell, he was messing this up. “But I have to go back to my own spread for a while.”

Rachel nodded, then looked up at him and his heart melted. “I understand, Johnny. You have your own life. I’ll pay you back for the lawyer fees.”

“I don’t want your money, Rachel.” Johnny had been a cocky show-off once, had women throwing themselves at him. But insecurity struck him now. Rachel wasn’t a rodeo groupie. She was special and this was real love. What if she crushed his heart?

Go for it, man. You can’t let her walk away. You can’t lose her.

His palms were sweating as he cleared his throat. “Rachel, I…I’d like for you and Kenny to go with me.”

There, he’d said it. Put his heart on the line.

Rachel’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You want me to cook at your ranch?”

He hesitated. “Well, if you want to cook, that’s fine. But I already have a cook for the ranch hands.”

“I don’t understand.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you offering me a job, Johnny?” This time hurt and a note of anger tinged her voice.

Johnny gulped. Hell, no, not a job. “I…that’s not exactly what I meant.” He took a step closer, summoned his courage and dropped to one knee. “I love you, Rachel. I want to marry you and be a father to Kenny.”

The flash of anger he’d seen in her eyes turned to shock and then joy. “You want to marry me?”

He nodded, then gripped her hand in his and kissed her palm. “You mean everything to me, Rachel. I want us to make a life together, and I want to be a father to Kenny, and he can bring one of the pups with him and have his own horse at my place, and we’ll come back here and volunteer—”

Rachel squealed with delight, then dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him. “I love you, too, Johnny.”

“Then you’ll marry me?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you. I want to spend my life loving you.”

“What about Kenny? Do you think he’ll be okay with it?” Johnny asked. “I mean, he is man of the house.”

She looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. “I think he can wait a while to take over. He needs a big man around.”

Then she kissed him so hard that he fell backward. Pain knifed through his chest, but he laughed anyway, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her even deeper, hoping she felt the love in his heart.

He had come to the BBL to help troubled kids like he’d once been, but he’d found a second chance, himself.

A chance to have love and a family to call his own. And he would never let them go.

Epilogue

Johnny parked in front of the state pen, determined this time to help his friend, even if Carter didn’t want it.

He stared up at the prison barbed wire with a grimace. God knows, he’d be crazy if he’d been locked up in here for five years. And maybe just as bitter as Carter.

He had looked back over the evidence the past few days and realized that Carter had had a shoddy defense.

And that the police had missed something.

Perspiration trickled down the back of his neck as he went into the prison, passed through security and took a seat in the visitors’ room. This time, when Carter shuffled in, he looked even worse. Dark bruises, a jagged cut above his eye, a flat, hopeless expression as if he’d given up.

“What the hell are you doing here again?” Carter mumbled. “Thought the big, famous rodeo star would be off on his honeymoon.”

Johnny ignored the barb. “I see you read the papers.”

Carter stared down at his scarred hands folded on the table. “Looks like you and Brandon were big hits.”

“For once, can it with the bitterness,” Johnny snapped.

Carter’s scowl deepened, but Johnny saw pain in his eyes. “What do you want, Johnny?”

“To get you out of here,” Johnny said. “And like it or not, I’m going to help you.”

Johnny removed a business card from his pocket and shoved it toward Carter, sliding it beneath the small opening in the Plexiglas. “This is the name of a P.I. I hired to look into your case.”

Carter glanced at the card but didn’t move to take it.

“He’s going to contact you.” Johnny stood. “Maybe he can dig up some new evidence to clear your name.”

Johnny started to walk away, but Carter called his name, and Johnny turned back to him. Carter’s hangdog expression twisted Johnny’s heart.

“You really think this guy can help me?” Carter asked in a gruff voice.

Johnny hesitated, not wanting to offer false hope. Carter had had such an awful childhood, and then to spend years in a cell for a crime he hadn’t committed, it was beyond unfair.

He must have gotten his hopes up a thousand times, only to have them crushed.

But something had been amiss at that trial. And after seeing how easily Rex Presley had manipulated the system to frame Rachel, made him wonder if someone had framed Carter.

“Yeah, I do.” Emotions tinged his voice. “If someone set you up, Carter, it’s time we exposed them for what they did so the right person can pay and you can go free.”

Although, freeing him wouldn’t give Carter back the years he’d lost. But clearing his name would give him back his self-respect and a chance to start over.

Carter released a long-suffering sigh and scrubbed a hand down his chin. His handcuffs rattled in the silence.

“There is something,” Carter said in a gruff voice.

Johnny slid back into the stiff vinyl chair. “What?”

“Remember that Native American girl I told you I saw the night of the murder?”

Johnny nodded. The one who’d disappeared into thin air. The one no one else believed existed.

“She was at your rodeo,” Carter said. “I saw her in the stands in one of the pictures in the paper.”

Adrenaline flooded Johnny. “I’ll call Leon as soon as I leave and tell him to get here ASAP.” He stood again, anxious to make the call. “Maybe he’ll have you out soon.”

A sliver of hope softened Carter’s bleak expression, and Johnny prayed he wouldn’t be disappointed again.

The only thing that would make him happier than marrying Rachel and making a family with her and Kenny was to see Carter clear his name and for all of them to be friends again.

* * * * *

ISBN: 9781459219656

Copyright © 2012 by Rita B. Herron

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