His Hometown Cowgirl

by

Anne Marie Novark

***

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The Diamondback Ranch Encore #1

Kelsey and Pete

When fate deals a cruel blow to Kelsey
McCade, she returns home to the Diamondback Ranch to rebuild her
life and heal her shattered heart. Unforeseen circumstances keep
throwing her into the company of Pete Lafferty, the object of her
teenaged fantasies. Against her will, Kelsey finds herself drawn to
Pete--to the boy from her memories who kept her safe, and now to
the strong and honorable man he’s become.

Pete Lafferty has known a lot of women, but
he’s never fallen in love. When Kelsey McCade finally returns home,
vulnerable but not broken, he quickly realizes she’s a threat to
his carefree existence. He’s always had a soft spot for Kelsey, and
seeing her grown up and beautiful stirs up emotions he's not sure
he's ready to explore. He's never done a long-term relationship,
and she deserves nothing less. He knows he’s not the right man for
her, but how can he convince his heart?

***

His Hometown Cowgirl

Copyright © 2015 by Anne Marie Novark

***

All rights reserved. This book or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author or publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or
reviews.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of
this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places,
businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the
author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or
locales is purely coincidental.

***

To Carrie.

You are my inspiration.

This one's for you.

***

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter
Three

Chapter
Four

Chapter
Five

Chapter Six

Epilogue

Daniel and Ruth McCade

Dallas McCade/Gillian Bankston McCade

Children: Zach and Travis

Cameron McCade/Jessie Devine McCade

Children: Daniel, Michael, Courtney

Austin McCade/Theresa Rogers McCade

Children: Kelsey Girard (from his first wife
Deborah), Ruthie Mae

Tyler McCade/Caitlyn Ross McCade

Children: Ross, Annie, Jamie

Victoria (Tori) McCade/Sam Garza

Children: Mary and Joe

Molly and Maddie Sherman

Ruth becomes their legal guardian after the
twins' parents are killed.

***

Kelsey and Pete

Kelsey McCade was all grown up.

Pete Lafferty sat on the tractor that was
hitched to a flatbed trailer full of laughing children and adults
sitting on square hay bales. He was waiting for Kelsey's signal to
start the engine and begin the hayride that would take everyone on
a tour around the farm and then head out to the pumpkin patch.
Farmtime Trails was proving to be a viable business venture. All
thanks to Kelsey.

Pete had to hand it to the kid. She'd always
been a bossy little thing, organizing family events, milestone
celebrations, wedding receptions, and the christenings of all the
new structures and homes built on the Diamondback Ranch for the
past ten years. Hell, ever since she could talk most likely.
Everyone said the kid was a born leader, and it was true.

Gripping the steering wheel tighter, Pete
inhaled a deep breath. Thing was Kelsey wasn't a kid anymore. He'd
known her all her life. She'd been an adorable precocious child
with golden blond hair and intelligent baby blue eyes. She'd been a
cute teenager with a smart mouth and sassy attitude. Now, she was
downright beautiful with a body that made a man salivate and ache
with longing. Curves that made you want to run your hands up and
down them, caressing, squeezing, teasing . . .

"Hey, Pete! Are you going to start the
tractor or not?" Kelsey called to him from her perch on the back of
the trailer, a smile playing on her full kissable lips, her eyes
shining like sapphires in the bright October sunlight. "We're ready
whenever you are. Let's get this show on the road!"

Pete shoved the erotic thoughts from his
over-heated brain and turned the key in the ignition. The old
diesel tractor started like a gem, the motor rumbling to life, the
smell of exhaust fumes floating on the cool breeze.

"WooHoo!" Kelsey shouted, her exuberance and
enthusiasm contagious. The group of tourists was eating it up.

He'd like to eat her up. He'd like to kiss
the smart sassy mouth that was beginning to grow more kissable with
each passing day.

And night.

Pete silently groaned and adjusted the
position of his butt on the hard tractor seat. Seemed like he'd
been in an uncomfortable state of arousal ever since Kelsey had
moved back to the Diamondback Ranch. She'd graduated from Texas
Tech with a double major in Ag Science and Ag Commerce. Go figure.
The kid had always been smart as a whip. Sometimes too smart for
her own good.

Staring straight ahead down the dirt road
toward the pumpkin patch, Pete could sometimes still think of
Kelsey as that 'cute McCade kid.' But only from a distance. As soon
as he saw her up close and in person, her beauty and desirability
hit him hard like four G's to the gut.

He'd always been aware that Kelsey had a
crush on him. When she'd been younger, she'd followed him around
like a little puppy. He'd worked for Tyler McCade and Lone Star
Wings ever since he'd been able to drive a car, so he'd been a part
of the Diamondback Ranch for a long time. And from the first moment
he'd held an airplane's joystick in his hand, he'd known he'd found
his passion. Tyler had taught him how to fly and helped him get his
pilot's license. He knew he was one lucky son-of-a-bitch to be able
to make a living doing what he loved.

Pete watched a hawk soar high in the blue
West Texas sky. He loved to fly. He took another deep breath and
slowly blew it out. He wished he could be up high in the sky right
now, but there were no crop-dusting applications scheduled for
today and no wild fires to fight (thank goodness), which was why
he'd been roped into tractor-driving duty. Again.

Still, he enjoyed the bright sunlight and the
fresh air. He'd lived in Salt Fork, Texas, all his life. Well, most
of it anyway.

He'd gone away to college, of course. But
he'd worked for Tyler during the summers, and he'd watched Kelsey
grow into a stunning young woman during her high-school years.
She'd still had a crush on him back then, always blushing and
smiling shyly whenever they met.

That's when he'd discovered he was physically
attracted to her. Big time. And there hadn't been a damn thing he
could do about it. He couldn't ask her out. Kelsey was Tyler
McCade's little niece, so she was off-limits. Forbidden fruit. Not
to mention jailbait.

Besides, anytime he even looked in Kelsey's
direction or got too close, her dad and uncles shot him the evil
eye. Pete was no coward, but the McCade brothers were a force to be
reckoned with. They protected their own, guarding and watching out
for all family members, as well as the sixty-four-hundred-acres of
the Diamondback Ranch.

He'd ruthlessly suppressed his wayward desire
for Kelsey during his summers on the ranch. He'd played the field
with many lovely ladies while away and attending school.

And when he'd heard Kelsey had started
dating? Pete shook his head. He still remembered the violent
possessive feeling burning in his chest. And when she'd become
engaged? Dear God. Jealousy had consumed him, and he'd felt like
his soul had been ripped from his body. It didn't matter that he
could never have her; he didn't want to think about another man
having her. Making love to her.

When Kelsey's fiancé had been killed, the
light in her eyes had dimmed. Pete wanted to offer comfort, but
their relationship wasn't that simple. Oh, he'd hugged her and told
her how sorry he was for her loss, but he couldn't help the feeling
of relief, which wasn't very noble of him and made him feel like a
sorry selfish bastard.

After she'd returned to the Diamondback
Ranch, he'd worried about how hard she pushed herself to get the
new ag-business up and running. But gradually, he saw how the
launch of Farmtime Trails had helped to heal her. The sparkle
slowly but surely began to glimmer in those baby-blues once
again.

Pete had deliberately kept his distance ever
since Kelsey had moved back. Her single-status didn't change
anything. She was still off-limits. Still forbidden fruit. Still
Tyler's niece.

Yet Pete still wanted her, still wanted to
possess her, still wanted to make her his in the most basic way. It
wasn't love; it was lust, he told himself
. He just wanted her in
his bed.

Flexing his fingers, he gripped the steering
wheel again. All in all, it would be better to keep a tight lid on
his thwarted desire for Kelsey. It wouldn't be right to ask her out
or start anything with her. First off, he didn't do long-term
relationships. He enjoyed his freedom. Enjoyed dating a lot of
women. No one had ever tempted him to change his single status.
Second, Kelsey was still nursing a broken heart. The kid deserved
more than Pete was willing to offer. He didn't want to hurt her.
She'd been hurt enough.

But damn, he wanted her. More than he'd ever
wanted any other woman. The desire and passion inflaming his very
soul scared the crap out of him.

No, twenty-four-year-old Kelsey McCade wasn't
for the likes of him. He was commitment-shy, relationship-phobic.
Kelsey was a white-picket-fence, home-sweet- home kind of woman.
They were all wrong for each other. Even so, she was quickly
driving him out of his ever-loving mind.

Besides all the messy emotions roiling inside
of him, Pete didn't want to risk upsetting his working relationship
with Tyler McCade. After Pete had earned his degree, Tyler had
hired him on full-time at the airfield, even letting him rent the
infamous hangar-apartment for a reasonable price, since Tyler now
lived in the big new house down the road with his wife Caitlyn and
their three kids. Six months ago, he'd offered Pete full
partnership in Lone Star Wings. Life was good.

For the most part.

"Anytime now, Pete!" Kelsey's voice held a
hint of laughter. He glanced over his shoulder to see her head
tilted, her blue eyes gazing back at him in puzzlement.

Get it together, Lafferty.

"Everybody hold on!" He threw the tractor
into gear and started up the dirt trail that lazily wound through a
copse of mesquite trees before emerging into a clearing of
cultivated land where the four-acre pumpkin patch stood.

They hadn't been chugging along three minutes
before Kelsey began leading the group of visitors in a lively
rendition of
Old McDonald's Farm
. Her clear soprano voice
wafted on the chilly West Texas breeze. The crowd was doing its
best to keep up with the tempo set by their fearless leader.

And what a leader she was, Pete thought in
admiration. She'd taken the idea of branching off a small part of
the Diamondback Ranch into an agritainment revenue source, and
she'd run with it. This was her grand opening first season and
right off the bat Farmtime Trails had been booked solid up to the
middle of November. The kid sure knew how to get things done.

Pete sure wished she'd
do
him.

Give it a rest, buddy.

A man could dream, couldn't he?

Not about Kelsey McCade, damn it.

Pete shoved the tractor into high gear. The
quicker they could reach their destination, the quicker the
afternoon tour would end, and the quicker he could get back to the
airfield and lock himself safe inside his apartment.

Away from Kelsey. Away from temptation.

****

Kelsey watched Pete park the tractor in the
implement barn, after pulling the trailer full of visitors all over
the farm and ranch for the better part of the afternoon. She was
still working out the kinks in her fledgling business, and
tractor driver
was a position that needed to be filled. And
soon.