Tomas: Cowboy Homecoming Read online

  She grabbed it off the counter. “Yes, Aidan, we’ll be right there.” Clicking off, she said, “Get dressed. I’ll stall.”

  He ran upstairs, and in ten minutes he walked into the office, which was filled with family, even Dinah and Duke.

  “Still keeping those banker hours,” Colt commented.

  “Shut up.” Tuf grinned.

  His mom started the meeting. “I won’t keep everyone waiting. Josh and I have talked, and I’ve made a decision about Midnight. That horse has caused us so many problems that at times I wanted to strangle the poor thing. But we have a lot invested in him, and I intend to see that horse doing wonders for Thunder Ranch and Hart Rodeo Contracting Company. That’s been my goal from the start.”

  She took a moment. “I know all of you have different opinions about Midnight’s role in the rodeo. Mine has changed several times. Midnight getting injured could thwart all our plans. That’s been a big factor, but Aidan has been able to collect semen from Midnight. At first, he was unable to do this because the animal was too unpredictable, and we didn’t want Aidan or a handler getting hurt.” She looked around the room. “So I’ve decided to enter Midnight in rodeos to see if he can live up to his reputation as an exceptional bareback bronc.”

  “Hot damn.” Colt raised a fist in the air. “Time to rodeo.”

  “Colton.” His mother’s stern voice brought Colt down to earth quickly. “It will be your job to keep Midnight as calm as possible and living up to his potential.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Everyone got up from their seats, preparing to leave.

  “Wait a minute,” Dinah called. “I have news.”

  Now everyone stared at her, and she rose to her feet, her hand on her stomach. “Austin and I found out that we’re having a…girl. We’re so excited.”

  Everyone jockeyed for a position to hug her.

  “Another granddaughter,” Sarah cried, squeezing the daylights out of her daughter. “How wonderful. They’ll grow up as best friends.”

  Tuf was the last to hug her. “How are you going to handle your sheriffing duties while—” he glanced at her rounded stomach “—you’re pregnant?”

  “I got the okay to hire another full-time deputy, and I’m on office duty for now.”

  “What a relief.” Sarah sighed.

  The family dispersed to start their day. Tuf helped Beau feed the rodeo bulls. He brushed hay from his clothes and watched the bulls tearing into the alfalfa.

  “That brown-and-red one looks mean.”

  Beau leaned on the fence beside him. “That’s Bushwhacker and he is mean. His main goal is to gore you as soon as he can. I drew him once. Didn’t make the ride, and I got the hell out of his way as fast as I could.”

  “That’s what I like about horses. Once the ride is over, they’re searching for the open gate to get out of the arena. They’re not looking to maim you for life.”

  “I just like riding bulls.”

  “Well, coz, let’s see how we do in the next few months, and hopefully we make it home in one piece.”

  Later that afternoon, Tuf worked with Ready. The horse rode as smooth as Mrs. Worley’s Cadillac. Brad, her son, had been in his class, and Mrs. Worley always drove them to school outings in her big smooth-as-a-glider Cadillac. Yep, Ready was a Cadillac horse.

  The cows needed hay, so he cranked up the tractor and carried a round bale of hay to them. As he worked, he thought of Cheyenne. Hell, there wasn’t a minute of the day that he hadn’t thought of her. Was he still infatuated with her? Or was it something more? He wasn’t sure, but he was willing to find out.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING CHEYENNE was up early, brushed her hair and clipped it back. All the while she resisted the urge to put on a touch of makeup. Tuf liked her freckles. She stopped. What was she doing? She couldn’t keep saying no and feeling excited at the same time. Picking up her box of supplies, she headed for the kitchen in her first-thing-in-the-morning look.

  Her dad had made a fire in the fireplace and she could smell coffee. He was an early riser, but this morning he’d gone to Thunder Ranch to check on Midnight. It was one of his favorite things.

  Cheyenne fixed her coffee and laid out her supplies. She had ten sparkly stretchy bracelets in different colors to make, and she could whip them out in no time. As she worked, she kept glancing at the clock. Six-fifteen—no Tuf. Six-thirty—no knock on the door. By seven, she knew he wasn’t stopping to visit.

  Finishing the bracelets, she placed them in a small box and stored them inside her big box, trying to figure out why she felt hurt. She liked Tuf, even his weird shopping habits. She liked his compassion for her girls, his selfless bravery and his inherent strength. But after what she’d been through with Ryan, she wasn’t ready for any kind of intimate relationship, even if Tuf was charming, caring and unbelievably heart-stoppingly good-looking.

  “Oh, oh,” she groaned. She needed something stronger than coffee to deal with her unsettling thoughts. Getting up, she stood on tiptoes to reach the top cabinet door. She pulled out a bowl of candy—the girls’ stash that she gave them when they were good.

  Tootsie Rolls, M&M’S, bubble gum, Dots, gummy bears, Twix and Milky Ways. She grabbed a Milky Way, tore off the wrapper and took a bite. Oh, yeah, just what she needed. Almost.

  After her sugar high, she put Tuf out of her mind. They’d agreed to be friends, and anything else was out of the question. That was her bottom line and she was sticking to it.

  The next morning she heard his knock and calmly walked to the door and opened it, uncaring of her gaudy robe and slippers.

  Tuf brought the cool outdoors in with him. He removed his gloves and held his hands to the fire.

  “I need new gloves. I think I’ve worn these out. Feel.” He cupped her face with his hands and she lost all train of thought. The roughened male skin against her soft face shot her adrenaline through the roof. She knew he intended to show her how cold his hands were, but all she felt was warmth all the way to her toes. His dark eyes stared into hers, and the world stopped turning for a brief moment as she realized just how much she liked Tuf Hart. Friends. She kept trying to remind herself. Friends wasn’t even on her radar. Friends with benefits wasn’t even an option. How did she get from no to the delicious thoughts in her head?

  She hated that he could make her so wishy-washy when she intended to be firm in her decision.

  “W-would you like a cup of coffee?”

  “As long as it’s hot.”

  He followed her into the kitchen and sank into a chair. “Making jewelry, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  He stared at her. “You seem tense.”

  “I want to make it clear that we’re just friends.”

  “Okay.” His gaze grew intense. “Something else is bothering you.”

  “Yes, it’s about the cemetery the other day. I should have mentioned it sooner, but you put me in a difficult position. I make all decisions concerning my girls, and I do not appreciate you taking control.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Did something happen?”

  “No, except they want to go to the grave site every day. I told them it was too far and we’d go once a month. We circled a date on the calendar. They haven’t mentioned it since.”

  “So?”

  She could see the confusion on his handsome face. She placed a cup of coffee in front of him and slid into a chair feeling foolish. Ridiculously foolish. Before she knew what she was doing, she started telling him about her marriage and Ryan. She didn’t sugarcoat anything.

  “Ryan was a control freak in every way and it only grew worse.”

  “Did you ever think of leaving him?”

  “He was in so much pain I couldn’t bring myself to do that until…until one day he became enraged that I hadn’t taken his clothes to the cleaners. Sammie had the flu and I wasn’t taking her out. He hit me so hard I fell in the kitchen and hit my head on the table. Blood ran into my eyes, and I knew one of us had t
o leave or he was going to kill me. I told him to get out and not to return until he got some help. I thought he was going to hit me again, but he walked out. That was the last I saw him.” She gripped her hands until her knuckles were white. “It breaks my heart that Sadie saw that.”

  “She just wanted her daddy to say he was sorry so he could come home.”

  “I know but…”

  “Sadie will be fine.” Then he told her the story about the little girl in Afghanistan. “The girl went through a horrific event, but the moment she saw her toy, the horror was forgotten.”

  “That’s why you were so stern that day you saw Sadie walking on the road?”

  “Yeah.”

  She stared into his brown eyes and saw a vortex of dark emotions that still lingered from the war. But he wasn’t trying to hide them like Ryan had.

  Suddenly the darkness faded. “I’m not trying to control you, Cheyenne. I’m really not that type. I was just trying to help Sadie.”

  Seeing the turmoil on his face, she knew she had to be honest. “I’m a mess. My emotions are helter-skelter, and I do my best to get through each day for my girls. But—” she shifted uneasily “—earlier when you cupped my face, I felt warm and feminine again.”

  “Is there something wrong with that?”

  “Yes. I’m an emotional wreck, and I’m finding every excuse I can to stay away from you.”

  “Well, then, stop nailing up excuses like barbed wire to keep me away. Let’s just take this one day at a time. What do you say?”

  She licked her dry lips. “Tuf…why would you want to do that? I can’t see any kind of future for us. We both have too much baggage.”

  He twisted his cup. “But there’s an attraction between us. It’s been there since we were teenagers.” He looked directly at her, and his dark eyes were as inviting as the chocolate on a Milky Way bar. “Can you deny that?”

  “No, but I’m scared.” Oh, God! Had she said that out loud?

  “I know. I am, too.”

  His honesty startled her, and she just stared at him, all her defenses down. But she didn’t feel weak or vulnerable. She was uplifted knowing she wasn’t alone in her fears.

  “Is it okay if I continue to stop by?”

  “Yes,” she replied, and meant it.

  “Tuf,” Sadie screeched from the doorway and jumped onto Tuf’s lap. “You came to see me again?”

  “Yep. How you doing?” He cradled her close as if he’d been doing it all his life.

  “Good.” Sadie bobbed her head.

  Cheyenne wondered where Sammie was. The girls were inseparable. She stood to go check when a loud scream was followed by wails. “Mommy! Mommy!” She sprinted to their room and found Sammie standing in the middle of Sadie’s bed crying her little heart out.

  “Baby, it’s okay. Mommy’s here.” She gathered her child into her arms.

  “Sadie left me.” Sammie hiccuped. “I’m scared.”

  “Mommy’s here. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She reached for tissues on the nightstand between the beds and wiped Sammie’s wet face. The girls had twin beds, but Sammie always crawled into Sadie’s during the night. At times like this, Cheyenne became so angry at Ryan for doing this to his kids.

  She carried Sammie to the kitchen, and Sammie was on full attack as they often were when the girls were mad at each other. “You left me, Sadie.”

  “I had to say hi to Tuf.”

  “I want to say hi to Tuf,” Sammie mumbled.

  Cheyenne stood her on her feet, and she climbed onto Tuf’s other leg, but her attention was on her sister. “You left me.”

  “You’re a big baby,” Sadie spat.

  “Am not.” Sammie slapped her sister’s chest.

  Sadie hit her back. “Am, too.”

  “No hitting,” Cheyenne said. “Now make up.”

  “She’s a big baby,” Sadie insisted, resisting, as always.

  “You’re mean!” Sammie cried.

  “Girls, did you not hear what I said? Make up and be nice.”

  They glared at her and then at each other. Slowly their foreheads met and they started to whisper. Tuf rolled his eyes over their heads, and Cheyenne smiled, feeling lighthearted and silly. She hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

  “I’ve got to go to work, girls,” Tuf announced, and they scrambled from his lap, staring up at him.

  “When you coming back?” Sadie asked.

  The back door opened, and Cheyenne’s dad stomped in, wiping snow from his boots. He stopped short in the doorway. “Tuf.” A startled expression flashed across his face.

  Tuf walked over and the two men shook hands. “Mornin’, Buddy.”

  “Mornin’. I was just at Thunder Ranch exercising Midnight.”

  “Gracie said you took care of him when he went missing.”

  “Yeah. Grew kind of fond of the horse.”

  “You’re welcome anytime. Now I’ve got to run,” Tuf said and looked at her. “See you later.”

  She nodded and wondered if she was just weak or if she was glimpsing a light through the darkness that surrounded her heart.

  The girls ran behind him to the door. “Bye, Tuf,” they called and then ran to the bathroom to get ready for breakfast.

  “Tuf Hart?” Her dad lifted a shaggy eyebrow when the door closed.

  “Take that pained look off your face. We’re just friends.”

  He poured a cup of coffee. “Mmm. I’m glad he helped with Sadie. We didn’t know what else to do.”

  “I’m grateful for that, too.” Her conflicting thoughts she kept to herself.

  He sipped his coffee. “Just take it slow. Tuf’s been through a war, and you’ve been battered and bruised.”

  Her dad rarely offered parental advice. He figured he’d lost that right many years ago, so for him to speak up she knew he was worried.

  She kissed his cheek. “Dad…”

  “I just don’t want to ever see you like you were when you came home over a year ago—totally defeated and withdrawn.”

  She didn’t, either. She wouldn’t survive another debilitating heartache like that. “I’m taking baby steps,” she told him. “I better check on the girls.”

  As she walked toward the bathroom, she felt Tuf’s hands cupping her face. Why was that feeling so strong?

  Chapter Eight

  Tuf and Beau checked Tuf’s rigging for bareback riding. They sat at Beau’s workstation in the barn next to the old foreman’s house. Beau had converted the small barn into a saddlery. A gorgeous saddle Beau had just finished sat on a large sawhorse. The scent of leather filled the room and cuttings lay on the floor.

  They examined the Barstow rigging that Austin had ordered for Tuf. The leather strap placed around the horse’s withers had a luggagelike handle made out of rawhide. The underside was sheepskin to protect the knuckles. Slipping his gloved hand into the handle, Tuf gripped it tight.

  “Just right,” he said. “I have a good grip, and I can get my hand in and out without a problem.”

  Beau nodded. “That’s why it’s the best.”

  “I’ll put it in my truck with the rest of my gear.”

  “Wait. I have something else for you.”

  Tuf walked back in, and Beau grabbed a package wrapped in brown paper. “I made this for you.”

  Tuf glanced at the package and then at Beau. “Now, that’s too little for a saddle.”

  “I made you a saddle years ago.”

  “And I still use it.” He stared at the package, wondering what was inside. For some reason he was hesitant to take it. He was sure it was something special, and guys didn’t do special. They laughed, joked and horsed around. Special meant his heart was about to take a hit. That’s why guys like him avoided it.

  “Open it.” Beau shoved it at him.

  Slowly, he laid the rigging on the table and took the package. Ripping off the paper, he could only stare. He held up the item and felt his heart take a nosedive, just as he’d foreseen. Red chap
s with white fringe and blue stars ran down each side—red, white and blue for an American marine.

  “I don’t know what to say” was all he could manage.

  “If you don’t like them, you don’t have to wear them. I thought they would give you a brand—cowboy marine.”

  “They’re nice, really nice. I appreciate it and I’ll definitely wear them. Thanks, coz.” Tuf held out his hand.

  They shook hands and then did a brief hug and laughed.

  “We’re hopeless,” Tuf said.

  “Now, if you were Sierra, I’d hug you like crazy.”

  “Let’s remember I’m not when we’re sleeping in that small Airstream trailer.”

  “Let’s go see what time Ace wants us to leave for Bozeman on Friday morning.”

  “Do you want to guess?” Tuf asked.

  “Early.”

  “Yep.” They walked out of the barn toward the office.

  Ace wanted them on the road at six. He was staying behind to keep an eye on a mare that was showing signs of distress with her pregnancy. Since it was one of Midnight’s offspring, Ace wasn’t taking any chances.

  Tuf had a lot to do before they left. His last rodeo had been in November, so he was a little rusty but felt his technique would come back. He intended not to think too much about it. He didn’t want to leave without seeing Cheyenne and the girls.

  He hated she was in so much turmoil, and he didn’t want to push or control her. Her husband had really done a number on her. Tuf just wanted to help her. As Ace and Beau talked, he tried to figure out why that was so important.

  * * *

  IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, Tuf drove to the Wright place. Cheyenne, the girls and Buddy were at the corrals. He parked by the old tin-rusted barn and walked over.

  “Tuf!” The girls squealed and ran to him.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Grandpa bought us horses,” Sadie informed him.

  He took their hands and walked closer. Cheyenne smiled at him, and his heart kicked against his ribs like a bronc about to be broken. Damn, she was beautiful with the sun glistening off her hair. Today none of her angst showed on her face.

  “Hi,” she said in that soft voice that made his insides feel like jelly.