Buch lesen: «The Cowboy's Triple Surprise»

To Marlene and Vinnie

for the years of friendship,

fun, love and laughter...

and to Rich for all the same and more.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Tyler Buckham’s life in Texas—though he wasn’t sure you could call it a life lately—had become as dry as the Sonoran Desert. He liked the ranch he’d been working for some time now, and yet boredom and restlessness had both begun cropping up with increasing frequency. When he’d first noticed the signs setting in again, it never crossed his mind to turn to what he’d normally do: head out to another rodeo. Try for another prize. Find another buckle bunny to help fill a few empty hours.

That failure to go for what had always worked in the past proved just how stale his life had become.

As a last resort, he had given his notice and hit the road. Everybody needed a change of scenery once in a while. Running to something didn’t have to mean you were running from something else. Or so he told himself.

With an effort, he brought his focus back to the den where he now sat, and looked at the older man across the desk from him. He had met Jed Garland, the owner of the Hitching Post Hotel, last summer, when he’d come to Garland Ranch to stand up as best man when Jed’s granddaughter Tina married Tyler’s friend Cole.

Jed laced his hands across his middle. “Nice to have you back.”

“It’s nice to be back,” Tyler returned, though he felt uncomfortable saying it. He should have visited Cowboy Creek again long before this. Cole had invited him for Christmas, but he’d turned down the offer. Instead, he’d spent the holidays with his folks. Three months later, he was still kicking himself over that mistake.

“Cole will be pleased to see you when he gets home,” Jed told him. “I’ll need to have a talk with that boy, though—he didn’t so much as hint about you coming for a visit.”

“He didn’t know I was headed this way. Stopping by was a spur-of-the-moment idea.”

It was worse than that.

What would Cole and Jed and the rest of the Garlands think if they knew just how close he’d come to passing right by? Though he’d headed to New Mexico deliberately to put Texas behind him, he’d been on the fence about whether or not to visit Garland Ranch.

Fate had taken a hand, pushing him off the highway at the Cowboy Creek town limits. The gas gauge on the pickup had nose-dived, and he’d had to top up the tank. If he could have made it through to the next town, he might have left the hotel and dude ranch behind him in a cloud of road dust.

Instead, he’d given the truck its head the way he did his stallion. Like Freedom, the truck seemed to know exactly where it wanted to go. By the time he’d pulled into the parking area behind the Hitching Post, he had begun to wonder if fate had had this trip in store for him all along.

“Well,” Jed said, “when an idea spurs you on, that’s usually a good sign you should get moving on it.”

“Yeah. And here I am.” He glanced over at the Stetson he had tossed onto one of the small couches in the office. “But speaking of moving, I guess I’ll hit the road again since Cole’s not around.”

“What’s your hurry? He’ll be back in a couple of days.”

Tyler looked at Jed. The man was past seventy, but those clear blue eyes, topped by pure white eyebrows, wouldn’t miss much. At Jed’s scrutiny, he broke eye contact, using the excuse of grabbing his Stetson.

“It’s almost time for lunch,” Jed went on. “Why not stay to eat with us? Then you might as well stick around here till Cole gets home. We’ve got plenty of room in the hotel for you, and a stall out in the barn just standing empty waiting for your mount.”

“I don’t—”

“You know Tina and I will be glad for the visit with you,” Jed went on, as if he hadn’t heard Tyler. “And I know you’re not planning on running off without seeing Paz.”

The mention of Tina’s grandmother, the hotel’s cook, brought back some great memories. He smiled. “She sure took good care of me when I was here for Cole and Tina’s wedding.”

Jed smiled broadly. “Feeding people is what she does best. We don’t like seeing anyone going hungry here. And we’re not fond of empty spaces at the table. We’ll be happy to have you sitting in for Cole and staying with us for a while.”

“I don’t—”

“You won’t be the only guest at the table today,” Jed broke in again. “Shay’s joining us for lunch, too.”

“Shay?” Tyler’s pulse revved up a notch.

“Yeah, Shay O’Neill. You met her at the wedding last summer, remember?”

How could he forget? “Yeah, I remember Shay.” Understatement of the century. The mention of her name brought to mind a handful of other good memories.

“So, that’s decided.” Jed rose from his chair. “C’mon out to the front desk and we’ll find you a room. You haven’t got much time to settle in before we eat. Just a word of advice, though. I’d do my best to show up in the dining room as soon as possible, or you might get done out of something special.”

Yeah, something special like sitting next to Shay O’Neill.

As he followed Jed down the hall to the hotel lobby, his thoughts stayed with Shay. Shay, who was as sweet as the ice cream she sold at the Big Dipper in town. And who was way hotter than any other woman he’d ever seen.

Shay was another reason he should have come back to Cowboy Creek before now. They had had a good time in the few days he had stayed there last summer. No reason they couldn’t have just as good a time while he was here now. Lucky for him, that brief visit had included a night in her bed. He looked forward to having that pleasure again.

Above all, Shay was guaranteed to make him forget his troubles for a while. He needed that kind of forgetting more than he’d realized until this very moment.

* * *

ONCE HE’D SETTLED Freedom in his stall, Tyler made quick work of hauling his duffel bag from the back of the pickup truck to the room Jed had assigned him. Minutes after tossing the bag onto the king-size bed, he was downstairs again and on his way to the dining room.

From up ahead, he could hear more than one conversation going, a child’s shriek and, in a sudden beat of silence, a woman’s familiar laugh. That last sound made him both hard and hungry, but not for anything the Hitching Post might serve for lunch.

The dining room was crowded with Garland family members and hotel guests, yet the instant he paused in the doorway, he spotted Shay. She sat on the far side of the long center table reserved for the Garlands, half turned away from him as she talked with one of Jed’s granddaughters. He recognized the straight, wheat-blond hair that fell below her shoulders and felt like silk against his fingers. He knew when she looked his way he would see eyes one shade lighter than her green sweater. Her cheeks held a natural pink tint. Her lips curved in a soft smile.

Just looking at her from a distance made his pulse speed up and his jeans tighten.

She reached for a cloth napkin and unfolded it. As if she’d given a signal, the folks around him began heading toward the tables. The movement spurred him toward the vacant seat at her side before anyone else could grab it.

As he slid onto the chair, she turned his way.

The smile stayed, but the light pink color drained from her cheeks. He saw her fingers clutch the napkin she had draped across her lap. And then he saw the rounded expanse of belly straining the knitted weave of her sweater.

She was extremely pregnant.

Thoughts of anticipated pleasure flew from his head. Words did, too, leaving him struggling for something to say.

Jed Garland had no such problem. “Shay, you remember Tyler, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“I thought you might.”

Tyler couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. He also couldn’t miss hearing the satisfaction in the older man’s voice. What had brought that on? And why had Jed mentioned Shay’s invitation to lunch but said nothing about her condition? Of course, Jed—and everyone else at the Hitching Post—probably thought he and Shay were just passing acquaintances.

He tried for a casual smile. The one she gave him looked about as sincere as his felt.

“Tyler,” Tina said, “Abuelo says you’re staying with us for a while.”

Shay’s sweater rose, telling him she had sucked in a startled breath. She covered it with a small cough and a grab for her water glass.

The reaction made sense. Obviously, she’d met someone else since they were together last summer. Or she’d already been involved with the man when they’d had their fling. Either way, she wouldn’t want him hanging around, maybe bringing up their brief relationship in some conversation. As if he would. The boys at the ranch back in Texas always said he needed to have “Love ’em and leave ’em” tattooed across his chest. That didn’t mean he’d make a public announcement about a one-night stand. Shay couldn’t know that, but you would think she’d at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

Finally dragging his gaze away, he turned to Tina. He gave her his killer grin—to kill time, to try to pull himself together and recall what she had said... Staying with us for a while. Yeah. He sure regretted that right now. “I’ll be here at least till Cole gets back. I wouldn’t want to miss seeing him.”

“He definitely wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity, either. Meanwhile, we’ll all have the pleasure of your company.”

Not such a pleasure for Shay, considering the way she had reacted to finding him beside her and hearing he planned to stay. But that was nothing compared to the way he’d felt at seeing her.

Well...at seeing her pregnant.

While he liked a roll in the hay as well as any man, he had two rules for those occasions. First, always make sure your companion’s unattached. Two, keep the relationship no strings. Obviously, he had let the first rule go by the wayside when he met Shay, but he sure intended to hold fast to the second.

Shay’s condition now made him cross her name permanently off his interest list.

A waitress passed around several bowls filled with dinner rolls, then began serving the food. He managed to keep up his end of the conversation with Jed and Tina.

Shay apparently was making a deliberate effort to remain turned away from him as she talked to Jed’s granddaughter Jane. Fine by him. The less they had to see of each other, the better. This lunch would soon be over, and considering the short time he planned to stay on the ranch, chances were good he wouldn’t run into her again.

He passed the basket of rolls her way. As she took it from him, he glanced at her left hand. No chunky flashing diamonds, no gold band. And no surprise there. The boys he’d worked with had also filled him in about pregnant women. Namely, that toward the end of a pregnancy, they often gained too much weight to wear their wedding rings.

“Tyler?”

Abruptly, he became aware of Jed waving from the head of the table, attempting to get his attention. The man’s tone made it apparent he’d said his name more than once. Flushing and hoping no one had noticed, he nodded at Jed in acknowledgment.

“If you haven’t got any plans for the afternoon, the girls could use some help.”

The girls meant Jed’s adult granddaughters. “Sure. I’ve got nothing on my agenda.” Besides avoiding Shay. “Need a hand with some heavy lifting?”

Jed nodded. “We’re setting up for a wedding reception, and with Cole away, we’re shorthanded around here. If you wouldn’t mind going along to the banquet hall after lunch, maybe you can lend some assistance.”

“No problem.”

Jed beamed. “Thank you kindly. I appreciate it, and I know the girls and Shay all do, too.”

“Shay?” he blurted, nearly dropping his fork.

To his relief, no one seemed to notice. Jed turned to talk to one of the hotel guests at an adjacent table. Tyler gripped his fork and tried not to look at the woman beside him.

He didn’t feel comfortable being here with her. Judging by her white-knuckled grip on her water glass, she felt the same.

Things had definitely changed between them since the night they had spent together.

Chapter Two

After lunch, Shay hurried out of the dining room as quickly as she could, wanting to put distance between herself and Tyler. She gave a shuddering sigh and rested her hands on the small folding table she had set up near the entrance to the banquet room. The short walk here had left her unsteady on her feet, but for once she couldn’t blame her shaky balance on the extra weight from her pregnancy.

She had never expected to see Tyler Buckham again, not after he’d left so many months before.

Eight months before. But who was counting?

In the short time he had been in Cowboy Creek last summer, she had fallen hard and fast for him. She had let just a few conversations over just a handful of days lead her to fall into his arms. And then she had made the awful mistake of taking him to bed.

The shame she felt about that now ranked right up there with the worst moments of her life, which included the day she finally acknowledged she wasn’t going to hear from him again.

Now she had another item to add to the list—finding Tyler beside her an hour ago in the Hitching Post’s dining room. Well, he wouldn’t hear anything from her, either, about the fact he had gotten her pregnant before he’d left town.

“And he’s not worth worrying about now, babies,” she said under her breath. “Mommy needs to focus on the reason we’re here at the Hitching Post.”

The next wedding reception being held at the hotel was only a day away. And yet with all they still had left to do in the room, she had been demoted to assembling table decorations.

She had spread her supplies across the small table. On the far side of the room, Jane and a couple of the hotel’s waitresses were taking care of the seating arrangements.

Truthfully, setting up chairs would almost be easier on her now than bending over the display cases at the Big Dipper to scoop up mounds of rock-solid ice cream. But she couldn’t argue about being given light duty here, not when she knew the Garlands were only looking out for her.

Which was exactly what she needed to be doing right now for them.

She walked over to the corner of the room to get more of the wedding favors. Before she could lift the carton of vases from the stack, a man stepped up beside her. She nearly jumped a foot in the air.

Then she froze, knowing it was Tyler and refusing to look at him. Yet, without even a glance in his direction, she picked up so many of the same details she had tried not to notice at the dining room table. So many memories from their brief time together.

From the corner of her eye, she caught the scuffed and creased cowboy boots. The well-worn jeans. The snapped cuff of a long-sleeved Western shirt. With one breath, she took in the scent of musky aftershave and of the man himself. Standing so close to him, she couldn’t miss the heat of his body. She forced herself to remember that warmth was only on the surface and didn’t touch his heart.

“So,” he said, “you’re helping out the Garlands this afternoon, too?”

“I work here,” she corrected.

“You gave up the job at the Big Dipper?”

She shook her head and finally glanced at him. “No, I’m doubling up. I’m working my way up to banquet manager for the hotel.” She hoped for that, anyhow. With the babies on the way, she needed more money than she made now.

“Nice.” He sounded impressed.

Good. Let him see she didn’t need anything from him.

“Hey, I’ll give you a hand.” He grabbed the carton. Glass clinked.

“Careful,” she snapped, half out of annoyance at herself for taking so much of him in, the other half out of irritation at his thinking she needed help—or anything else—from him. “Those are fragile.”

Eyebrows raised, he eyed her middle as if to say the same applied to her.

She crossed her arms, intending to stand her ground and stare him down, but the large baby bump made the stance awkward. She lowered her hands to her sides.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I don’t make a habit of dropping things.”

“Oh, really? I’d have said you were an expert at it.” She could have bitten her tongue at the instinctive response, but even that pain wouldn’t have come close to the way he had hurt her.

“What does that mean?”

It was too much to hope he would have just let her statement slide. But why should she let him slide when he had treated her so badly? “Sorry. I suppose I shouldn’t have said that.” She kept her voice down, but still, nerves and anger made her pitch high and her tone arch. “I really don’t know how you are about dropping things. But I sure know how you are about dropping women, since you did such a great job of that with me.”

Abruptly, he shifted the carton. Glass clinked again, and this time she was too annoyed to care. How could he sound so offhand after what he had done?

“I didn’t drop you,” he said. “You knew I was only in town a few days for the wedding. While I was here, we had a good time together, and that was it. I didn’t make any promises.” He looked at her stomach. “Besides, you obviously didn’t waste any time moving on to someone else.”

She swallowed a gasp. He couldn’t possibly think she had slept with him one night and then gone on to someone else the next. Then again, considering how quickly she had wound up in bed with him, why wouldn’t he think that?

As for not wasting time... If he only knew how many sleepless nights she had spent since he had left, especially once she found out she was pregnant. But he wouldn’t know, and she had to stop thinking about that. He had already stolen too much time from her, had already hurt her enough.

“Don’t worry,” he said in a lower tone, “I’m not planning to say anything about what happened last summer. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“My—” The sound of footsteps made her cut herself off. This time she turned. One sneak attack was enough—although no one could have startled her more than Tyler had.

Tina was coming toward them from across the room.

Shay glanced in Tyler’s direction and gestured to the table she had set up. “You can put the carton over there. Thanks.” She forced a smile.

He locked gazes with her. She refused to be the first to look away, which left her staring into his midnight-blue eyes. To her dismay, her stomach did that funny little flip it had taken such a short time to learn months ago.

“Tyler,” Tina said, “thanks so much for agreeing to help us all out. I think Jane’s trying to flag you down. Would you mind giving her and the waitresses a hand with the banquet tables?”

“Sure.” He glanced toward the other side of the room. Then he nodded to them both and ambled away.

Shay tried not to stare after him. She didn’t care where he was going or what he was doing, as long as it wasn’t near her. Let him think what he wanted about her pregnancy, too. She didn’t have to correct his assumption.

“Shay?”

Startled, she turned to stare at Tina. “I’m sorry. What?”

“I said, why don’t you sit and take it easy? It’s hard to be up on your feet, especially when you can’t even see your feet.”

“You should talk,” Shay said, glancing pointedly at the other woman’s middle, then blinking as she recalled Tyler doing the same to her. “You’re not that far behind me.”

“But I’m experienced. And I’m not carrying three babies.”

Shay tried not to wince, not to react at all to what Tina had said. She shot another look across the banquet hall. To her relief, Tyler had reached the opposite side of the room. Even with the acoustics in the high-ceilinged ballroom, he couldn’t possibly have overheard.

“Actually,” Tina said, “I’ll give you a hand, since I have some free time this afternoon.” She took a seat at the table.

Shay followed and returned to her own chair. Again, she couldn’t argue. Tina was only looking out for her. And as one of the Garland family, the other woman was more or less her employer.

She didn’t know what Tyler was doing back here in Cowboy Creek, but for all she knew, Jed might have hired him, too. She might have to face him every time she came to the hotel to work.

The thought was too much for her to consider.

She reached for the ribbon dispenser. Right now, she needed to push aside her reluctance to be near him for even part of this afternoon. She had to focus on the job that was going to help her pay her bills.

And still, she stared across the room.

Tyler had gone down on one knee to inspect something under a table. His broad shoulders strained against his flannel shirt the way her stomach strained against her maternity top. His belt encircled a waist as rock hard as his abs and now slimmer than she was around the middle.

“Shay,” Tina said, “do you mind if I borrow that dispenser before you run out of ribbon?”

Shay looked down at the table in front of her. Her face flamed. While trying to distract her thoughts from Tyler, she had coiled a length of ribbon into a tangled mass around her fingers. She grabbed the scissors and snipped the ribbon free.

Without another word, Tina took the dispenser, then reached for an undecorated vase. Shay sent her an apologetic glance, but the other woman didn’t look her way.

For a while, she managed to focus on the vases and the ribbons and a casual conversation with Tina. Then, all too soon, she found herself tuning in to the thump of Tyler’s boots from the other side of the room, the rumble of his voice as he spoke to one of the women, the sound of his deep laugh as he responded to something one of them said.

A spurt of jealousy hit, an unwanted, unwelcome emotion that twined itself—like the ribbon twisted in her fingers—around her heart.

She should have expected it and been prepared. And she couldn’t let it worry her, because she knew what caused the sudden upswing of emotion.

From the day Tyler had left to the day she finally acknowledged he didn’t plan to contact her again, her up-and-down feelings had run out of control. Late-night anxiety triggered her bouts of insomnia. Stiff-necked tension left her no comfortable position even if sleep had wanted to come. Anger and depression had made her days as uncomfortable as her nights.

There had been no way she would have run after Tyler, no way she wanted an unreliable cowboy in her life. Anger at herself, at how far she had let herself fall, had triggered every one of those reactions. She had simply waited them out, knowing they would pass, and they had. Eventually.

After she had discovered she was pregnant, she had again fought—and won—a battle to get her emotions in check, but there were times, like today, when her hormones won out. Green-eyed jealousy was trying to entice her. She wouldn’t let it succeed. Tyler didn’t mean anything to her anymore. She couldn’t care less who he flirted with now. Though he had fathered her babies, he was a free man.

She didn’t plan to do or say anything to change that.

* * *

WHEN HIS YOUNGEST GRANDDAUGHTER, Tina, entered the kitchen, Jed Garland took notice. Her grin made him sit back in his chair and nod in satisfaction.

Paz, standing near the refrigerator, stopped and turned their way.

“Tyler went for the bait, did he?” Jed asked.

“I don’t know about that.” Tina laughed. “But as you would put it, let’s just say Jane had him well and truly hooked by the time I left the banquet hall. He’s helping with the table setups, though his attention keeps wandering, and so does Shay’s. I’m now beginning to think you were right all along. You’re some matchmaker, Abuelo.”

“I try,” he said modestly.

Both she and Paz laughed out loud.

“I’m curious,” Tina said. “Tyler seemed so reluctant to help after you told him Shay would be working with us. I’m surprised he’s cooperating now. What did you say to him after the rest of us left the dining room?”

“I simply mentioned that no able-bodied man would let a woman in Shay’s condition get overworked.”

“Mentioned?” Paz repeated.

Chuckling, he looked over at the hotel cook. She had worked for him for more than twenty years now, since before they had this granddaughter in common and long before those gray streaks had started threading through her hair. “Well, maybe a bit stronger than mentioned. What do you think of his reaction?”