Her Homecoming Cowboy (12 page)

And he’d been a mess from that moment on.

The memory of the touch of her lips sent an electric thunderstorm moving through him. Stepping back from the barrel, he grabbed the lead rope that would enable him to control the barrel while Leo tried to ride it. Wrapping the hand of his arm with the broken collarbone, he tugged on the rope. The movement sent a small amount of pain through his shoulder, but not much. It wouldn’t be long before his arm would be working again. Unlike his brain.

“What were you thinking, Holden?” he muttered again, just as he heard chatter coming through the woods. Leo had arrived. Colt’s heart expanded at the sight of his son. Love like he’d never felt threatened to take him to his knees.

Dear God, let me be good enough for this task.
The prayer filled him, even though he knew he’d never measure up. Not alone. But with God’s help, he’d have to muddle through.

When Annie stepped into view, her silken golden hair glistening, his stomach tightened, his heart suddenly plunged to his boots and his hands dampened. He knew without calling the doctor that he had a major ailment.

Oh yeah, he was sick all right. Sick in the head. What had he been thinking? That she was beautiful, full of fire and coals, and spunk.

“Hey, Colt, I been waitin’ all day to see you.” Leo raced from the woods and threw his arms around Colt’s legs. Colt’s heart exploded with love, and it was all he could do not to bend down and hug Leo tight.

But he didn’t. A dark emotion hunkered at the back of his joy, the voice telling him he wasn’t worthy to take the gift offered to him. Helping Leo, feeling that small thrill of joy at just seeing his smile, felt like much more than he deserved...but he couldn’t help himself. And Annie... Colt looked up from his child wrapped around his leg and met her wary gaze.

“Hey,” he managed, though his mouth was dry and the words sounded rough. He cleared his throat—and tried to clear his head. This was about Leo. “I’ve got it all set up.”

“What is it?” Leo asked as Annie ran her fingers over the barrel and Leo pushed it.

“You’ll sit on there and hold on, while I pull this rope and make it rock. You’ll have to hold on and learn to use your legs to help you keep your seat on it.”

“Like a sheep,” Annie said.

“I get it!” Leo exclaimed and batted saucer-sized eyes at them. “Can I get on now, can I?”

Colt laughed, scooped him up, putting his hands under Leo’s arms, and deposited him on top of the barrel. His shoulder protested a little, but not much. “Hold on to that rope I’ve attached to the barrel.”

Leo chattered up a storm as Colt got him situated. Annie stood quietly, her arms crossed, watching from a few feet back. He wondered what she was thinking. Probably that she’d like to wring his neck...or worse.

Theirs was a complicated situation. No denying it.

“Okay, are you hanging on? Got your grip on the rope? That’s right, just like that. We’re going to have to pick you up a pair of small gloves at Pete’s Feed store, but lookin’ good right now.”

Leo was concentrating too hard to do anything but nod. It was easy to tell the little fella had been watching bull riding and knew the stance coming out of the chute. He had his hand palm up between the barrel and the rope. He had his eyes fixed forward and down, chin dipped, and as Colt stepped back Leo lifted his left arm up over his head. It hit Colt then just how much he did look like a small version of himself. Colt had seen plenty of pictures of himself in that moment and watched hours of film studying his technique to know that Leo wasn’t copying just any bull rider. He was copying Colt. Jennifer was responsible for that.

In her own weird way she’d given them a connection, though she’d never revealed the truth to him. For that, at least, he could thank her.

It was a connection Annie wasn’t sure about, and wasn’t in agreement about. But she was putting her own feelings aside to allow this for him. For that he appreciated her.

“Here we go. Now, practice gripping the barrel with your thighs. That’s this part.” He placed his hand on Leo’s thigh. “You’ve got muscles there that you will depend on.”

Leo looked up and nodded impatiently. Colt chuckled. “Okay, buddy, get ready to ride.” With that he pulled gently on the rope, making the barrel move slightly, just enough to warn Leo how it felt. And then he pulled a little harder.

Leo hooted and yanked his arm and stayed on for a few seconds, and then he slid off into the dirt, which Colt had turned up with a shovel to make soft for just such a situation. Leo laughed, rolled out of the way of the barrel and hopped to his feet.

“That was awesome—let’s do it again!”

“Hop on,” Colt said, not able to wipe the grin stuck to his face. This was his kid, all right. His son.

“Great ride, Leo.” Despite her trepidation, Annie was all smiles.

“I know I did,” Leo hollered, busting with admiration and pride. Totally full of himself. Colt thought that was hilarious and would have to give him a little rougher ride so the little fella wouldn’t start letting a big ego ruin his determination.

Obviously on the same wavelength, Leo walked over to him all business. “Colt, don’t ya know you gotta move this barrel faster if you want me to win. How am I supposed to learn if I don’t fall off a few times?”

Colt grimaced and met Annie’s watchful stare. “He’s got a point. You ready for this?”

Annie bit the inside of her lip and contemplated his words. He figured she was ready to throttle him for the whole situation—kiss included—but she sucked in an extremely deep breath. “I trust you. Do what you think is safe.”

Colt couldn’t help the smile that lifted one corner of his mouth and traveled across his face in a warm path of admiration. This woman had heart. Colt and Leo weren’t the only two in the group with their share of determination.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Hop on and hang on, son, because—” His words jerked to a halt. Annie’s eyes grew the size of his truck tires. Leo blinked at them.

“I’m hanging on, Colt,” he said, unaware of what Colt had said.

Colt calmed his nerves. People used the term
son
all the time. Leo had no clue that for the first time in his life he’d actually heard his daddy call him son.

That struck Colt as the saddest thing. A kid deserved to hear his daddy call him son. A daddy deserved to hear his son call him Dad.

It took every ounce of determination Colt possessed to remind himself that there were some who didn’t deserve anything...and he was one of them.

Chapter Twelve

A
nnie stood on the plank sidewalk of Mule Hollow and stared down the town’s Main Street. She loved this town—it was amazing how quickly the place had grown on her. And how could it not with its crazy colors? Why, just seeing the colorful buildings perked up her spirits. And she could sure use some perking up. She felt like a guitar string pulled so tight it quivered with the temptation to snap at any minute. She pushed that out of her mind and focused on the town. There was Heavenly Inspirations Hair Salon, owned by Montana’s cousin Lacy Brown Matlock. The two-story building was as pink as a sassy flamingo! Out front was Lacy’s 1958 pink convertible Caddy with tail fins and all. Annie had a flash of Elvis hopping from that caddy and looking around the wacky little town and wondering what rabbit hole he’d fallen into.

Pete’s Feed and Seed was bright yellow with vibrant green trim. Every building had its own wild combination of colors as if they’d chosen the colors wearing blindfolds.

A smile hovered on Annie’s lips as she walked into the feed store. Joy—that was the color of this town. With its overflowing flower boxes, which were being maintained through the drought by consistent care and watering from some of the residents. Annie knew everyone was praying for rain, but so far the dry, cracked earth had no reason to hope it was getting a drink anytime soon. Miss Adela had said that the Lord had a reason for withholding the rain, and it would come in God’s time.

As Annie was standing there, a truck turned onto Main and pulled into the parking space in front of her. It was Colt, of all people.

“And we meet again,” he drawled, rubbing his clean-shaven jaw as he got out of his truck.

She couldn’t seem to do anything without running into Colt. “Imagine seeing you here,” she said. Irritation pricked at the attraction that instantly made itself known to her.

“Fancy finding you here,” he said, tugging the brim of his hat lower over his eyes as he studied her. “I figured you’d be working.”

“I had to pick up some supplies that Pete ordered for the clinic,” she explained. “And I was going to pick up Leo a pair of gloves.”

Colt smiled a lazy smile that tickled her insteps.
“I came to pick him out a pair myself.”

“Oh,” she mumbled. “Well, okay. I’ll just pick up the supplies. I wouldn’t know what he needed anyway.”

He nodded toward the store. “Want to pick them out together?”

“I guess.”
Not really.

His eyes crinkled. “I know you’re having a hard time with this, but thanks. He’s enjoying it. And it’s good for him. A kid like him craves the challenge.” Colt’s gaze skimmed down her jeans-clad body, then stopped momentarily on her lips.

She forced a smile and tried not to think about what lingered between them. She’d had enough on her mind without thinking about the kiss. But despite everything, it hovered on the edge of every thought she had, waiting to set butterflies loose inside her.

“It’s all he talks about,” she managed as Colt’s gaze met hers.

They headed inside the dusty store. Annie figured nothing had changed inside since the day Pete had opened the place.

“Well, hey there,” Pete greeted them from behind the counter. Annie had been in once before to pick up some supplies and had met the jovial man already. He was tall and balding, with an easygoing way about him as he tugged a pencil from behind an ear. “Y’all need some help?”

It struck Annie that the feed store owner thought they were together. He’d just assumed it when they’d walked in together.

“I’m picking up the clinic’s supplies,” she said, trying to clear up his misunderstanding.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve got it ready.” He strode to the side and picked up a large box that had some galvanized metal feed buckets and spray bottles piled inside. Setting it on the counter, he grinned. “It’s kinda heavy.” He winked. “But Colt can carry it for you.”

“That won’t be necessary. I can carry it myself.”

Pete gave Colt an amused grin. “Have you lost your touch?”

Colt chuckled. “Looks that way.”

He didn’t seem like a guy loaded down with survivor’s guilt or a load of worry. He seemed like any other cowboy teasing about flirting with a girl. But he wasn’t any other cowboy—he was Colt Holden, father of her nephew, and he was teasing about flirting with her.

“Do you want to look at those gloves now?” she asked, hearing the irritation in her tone. “I need to get back to work.”

“Oh, are you buying Leo some leather gloves for mutton bustin’?” Pete asked.

Did
everyone
in the county know about Leo and his mutton riding?

“Yup,” Colt supplied. “He’s an excited little rascal. And he’s going to enter the roping, too. He’s got promise.”

Pete crossed his arms over his thick stomach. “Did his daddy like to do this sort of thing?”

The innocent question caught Annie off guard. “Yes, as a matter of fact, he did. Can you show us the gloves, Pete? I really have to go.”

“Sure, but Colt knows where they are.”

To her relief, Colt led the way to the back wall that was hidden by tall shelves. Spending time with Colt had not been in her plan. Standing in the corner with him certainly hadn’t been. She was far too aware of him as a man, and that made not thinking about the kiss impossible in close quarters. She hadn’t wanted to admit that it had been a
fantastic
kiss. She’d been trying and trying to avoid that word. But gloomily she admitted that it was a true and uncolored description of the event.

Colt picked a pair of tiny gloves off the rack and held them out to her. “Hold this one,” he said, and looked amused when she made sure their fingers didn’t touch when she took them from him.

While she fingered the soft leather glove, he pulled another one from the rack and fingered it, then put it back without offering it to her. At last he found another pair he seemed to like and handed them to her. When she went to take them, he held on and tugged gently, teasing her. She gave him a cool-eyed look. He tugged again and the corners of his mouth quivered. She fought the attraction and tugged harder, glaring at him. He let go and chuckled.

“You aren’t in a very good mood today.”

“Aren’t
you
a master of observation.”

He studied her for a long moment, dust motes floating on a sunbeam from a corner window peeking above the shelves.

“You sure do look pretty today, Annie.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t need to be noticing how I look,” she shot back indignantly.

“Maybe not, but it’s true. If you’d get that chip off your shoulder, it’d be better.”

“If you’d tell your son the truth, it would be better.”

“Not going to happen,” he said, glancing around to make sure no one else had entered the store. “It’s best for everyone if we keep things just like they are.”

Annie knew he was right. “True, and it would help if you didn’t grab me up and kiss me like you did the other day.”

Annie fingered the gloves and tried not to want the cowboy to kiss her. She tried not to want to help him overcome his past. But deep down she wished she was woman enough to do it. But that would mean letting her defenses down. That would mean getting closer to him...risking opening her heart up to him. Could she risk that? Her past held her back. Opening her heart meant trusting Colt with it, and no, she just couldn’t do it...could she?

* * *

“
Kissing.
Did she say he kissed her?”

“Hush, Esther Mae,” Norma Sue grunted, elbowing her sassy friend in the ribs. “She said that and if you hadn’t been yakking you’d a heard him say he was Leo’s daddy.”

Esther Mae’s mouth fell open. “We were right!”

Standing in the back room of the feed store, the two ladies were gathering up feed bags to use to decorate a display at Gabi’s wedding. They just happened to be standing beside the vent when Annie and Colt’s conversation rode through the drafty vent where the old pipe stove used to connect the two rooms years and years ago. The conversation wafted clear as a bell through the vents to the unsuspecting twosome, and they froze in their tracks.

“What are you two up to?” Adela asked, coming around the corner from where she’d been going through a box of supplies that Pete had ordered for them.

Esther Mae waved Adela to silence.

Norma Sue looked worriedly at Adela. “Maybe we should get out of here for a little while.”

Adela looked curiously at her just as she heard the voices.

“Annie, come on. I know you’re mad at me because I won’t tell Leo I’m his daddy. I can’t do it, and I...I can’t explain it.”

“It has to do with the wreck, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. It does. Looking at Leo fills me with joy. Hope. Kissing you, Annie, that was like the Fourth of July. I don’t know about you, but it blew me out of the stirrups. I don’t deserve to feel feelings like that. And you’re just the opposite—by the look on your face, you don’t want a repeat performance.”

Adela’s blue eyes were shocked. “We need to go, girls. This is a private conversation.”

“I don’t want the kiss,” Annie said forcibly. “But Leo needs to know you are his daddy. Jennifer was wrong to keep it from you. I don’t know if I can sit back and keep up this lie. Not when I think you need Leo as much as he needs you.”

“Shoo, girls, now.” Adela pushed her frozen-to-the-floor posse members, who were gaping at the vent as if it were a wide-screen television.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Norma Sue whispered, starting to walk away. She turned back, grabbed Esther Mae by the arm and yanked. “Come on, Miss Snoop!”

Esther Mae stumbled along, stuttering. “Hey, wait—
I was, I was
just
making sure we heard right.”

“Oh, we heard right,” Norma Sue snapped, now that they were out back on the loading dock where there were two rooms between them and the tell-all vent pipe.

Adela was a little pale. “I am really distressed.”

“Well, sure we are,” Esther Mae gushed. “Why, that poor little boy not knowing his hero is his daddy.”

“No,” Adela said, her soft voice quivering with shame. “That was a private conversation. It was never meant for us to hear.”

“Humph,” Norma Sue snorted. “Everything happens for a reason. And you can’t tell me that wasn’t one of those times. We weren’t standing in that spot by accident.”

Esther Mae turned pink with delight. “We certainly weren’t. Why, if we hadn’t stopped by Lacy’s to say hello, we would have been in the front of the feed store when those two came in. And if we hadn’t suddenly gotten the inspiration to use feed sacks, we wouldn’t have been anywhere near that vent.”

“That’s right,” Norma Sue assured them. “Five minutes and none of that would have come together. Adela, you were the one with the feed sack inspiration. Admit it. You said it was as if the Lord placed the idea in your head it was so perfect.”

Adela sighed. “Yes, I said that. However, I’m not an eavesdropper and I don’t like it.... Those poor dears. What a dilemma. And that sweet little Leo.”

Norma Sue and Esther Mae raised eyebrows at each other over their sweet friend’s soft white hair.

“That boy needs a family.” Esther Mae wagged her red head. “And Colt needs a reason to keep on going.”

Norma Sue’s smile was pure mischief. “And they were sure sounding tore up over that kiss. What do you think, Adela? I mean, we can’t turn back the clock and undo that we heard it.”

Adela batted her brilliant blue eyes. Her friends knew and respected her wisdom in times like these.

“I believe if the Lord truly did put us in that spot by divine appointment, He’ll set up the opportunity for us to see His way.”

“That’s true.” Norma Sue thoughtfully considered all that had happened. “We’ll know.”

Esther Mae let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “But that poor little boy needs—”

Adela touched her friend’s arm. “Esther Mae, trust the Lord. Has He ever let you down? Or us?”

“Well, no. But, you know I’m impatient.”

Norma Sue stuffed her hands in her coverall pockets and rocked back on her boots. “Hang on for God’s time, Esther Mae. You know good and well that’s the best time there is.”

“Okay,” Esther Mae huffed, “I’ll tap my toe and wait. You two just remember that I don’t like it, not one little bit.”

Norma Sue shook her head. “Do you think me and Adela will have one moment’s peace with you reminding us every day over and over again just how much you are not happy with the situation, that we will have a chance of not rememberin’ that you don’t like waiting? I can only wish!”

“Ladies,” Adela interrupted. “Your exuberance for the plan the Lord has set up for us is commendable. I do believe this calls for a cup of coffee and some of my Sam’s coconut pie.”

“And I do believe you are right. Don’t you agree, Esther Mae?”

Esther Mae started walking fast down the sidewalk, her hips swinging double time. “Let’s go, girls,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ve been dieting far too long. It’s time for a reward. Look out, Sam, here we come.” Walking even faster, she added, “And maybe we can talk up a plan. It never hurts to be prepared. We’re the posse, after all.”

Norma Sue hooted and Adela chuckled.

* * *

Annie sat in the patio chair that Colt had borrowed from Montana and Luke. He’d said if she was going to be spending her evenings having to watch him and Leo toss a rope that she needed to be comfortable. It was a nice gesture, and she’d been very comfortable all week long as she sat and watched Leo and Colt work tirelessly on the barrel riding and the steer dummy roping.

Annie prayed more and more that God would work out the situation between Leo and Colt. Her and Colt’s situation, however, she continued to hold off. But it was a lie to think that there wasn’t a connection radiating between them. It scared her. And she thought it scared him, too. Or he didn’t think he deserved to feel a connection like that. She’d begun to suspect that more and more every day. Sitting in the chair, observing them, gave a person some time to think. She was certain Colt loved and adored Leo.

Gabi had arranged it so that Colt was going to bring them to the wedding. She’d said that even if Colt wasn’t going to admit to the public that Leo was his, he was going to bring him to the wedding, and the photographer was going to get plenty of shots of them together. She’d been told the story of how Leo adored Colt, and Gabi wanted to document the fact.