Winning The Cowboy's Heart

Cole’s stance appeared casual, but he was coiled tight, hiding the pain. “Wasn’t paying close enough attention while fixing the bull pen fence. I got pinned when Diesel charged.”

Heath winced. Few survived the force of a two-ton raging bull. With a grateful nod, Pa curled his fingers around the warm mug Heath passed him.

Daryl whistled. “Could have been a heck of a lot worse.”

Cole accepted Sierra’s coffee and dropped into a seat. “Pa pulled me out.”

“Why were you in there, anyway?” Travis clasped his hands behind his back and frowned.

“Thought Diesel was secured in his pen. Must not have latched the gate last night.” Cole dropped his head in his hand.

“I’m just so thankful you’re both okay.” Joy reached across the table and managed to pat both Cole and their pa. Despite the late hour, their new stepmother looked stylish—and matching—as always in a blue polka-dot blouse tucked into a blue skirt that complemented her silver bob and hazel eyes.

“How long do you have to wear the cast?” Heath’s temples were starting to ache. The scalding coffee burned his tongue, but he kept sipping anyway.

“Six weeks.” Pa’s expression was pale and strained.

“Which is why Joy and I are canceling our honeymoon.”

Heath’s jaw hit the floor. Coffee splashed over the rim of his mug when he set it down. They needed every hand, but Pa couldn’t cancel his special trip with the woman he’d waited for all his life. They had to figure out a way to make this work. “Daryl and I can handle things, Pa.”

Pa shook his head, lacing his fingers with Joy’s. “We need at least three full-timers. Maverick’s on his bull-riding tour. Travis used up his vacation last week for the wedding, Sierra’s running her practice, and we can’t afford to hire another hand.”

A weight landed on Heath’s shoulders as he rubbed his fingers along his temples. He couldn’t leave his family ranch when they needed him. Couldn’t try for the record deal after all. The feeling that his dreams were slipping through his fingers cut deep into him, making misery of his bone and tissue.

Heath clenched his jaw and dragged in a deep breath. The contract was a long shot anyway. No sense pining for it. Instead, he’d work around the clock to ensure things ran smoothly during their cattle drive while his father honeymooned. Staving off foreclosure mattered most. Heath’s life had never belonged to him anyway; it’d been stupid to think otherwise, even for one night.

Cole lifted his head slowly. “Sorry, Pa.”

“Stop me if I’m overstepping, but...” Joy’s mouth pursed. “Maybe one of my kids could lend a hand? We have plenty of help with my nephews visiting this summer. We could spare someone experienced.”

Everyone sat perfectly still. No one spoke or even appeared to breathe. A Cade working Loveland ranch? Unthinkable...yet they had to consider it.

“Forget it.” Joy pulled off her frameless glasses and cleared the fogged lens with a napkin. “I shouldn’t have interfered.”

“You’re part of the family, darlin’.” Pa smiled tenderly. “It says Joy Loveland on our marriage certificate, don’t it?”

“Yeah.” Sierra threw an arm around Joy. “You’re one of us. I’m proud you’re my stepmother.”

“Me, too,” Heath, Daryl, Travis and Cole chorused.

“And our grandma!” shouted Emma and Noah, whose simultaneous attempts to climb on Joy’s lap went from shoving to a WWE match before Daryl banished them to opposite sides of the table.

“Sorry, Joy.” Daryl stared down his kids until they apologized, as well.

“After raising six kids, five of them boys, I don’t break easy.” Joy’s hands shook as she wiped beneath her eyes. “I couldn’t be prouder to call you my stepchildren and grandchildren. Hopefully, once the trial’s over, we’ll all become a real family, too. I want that more than anything.”

Heath spied his doubt in his siblings’ eyes. They’d never get along with the Cades, not with so many years of bad blood between them, no matter how the feud started, especially with their face-off in court next month. Joy was the exception.

In the week since she’d moved in, Heath had noticed subtle improvements. Family dinners happened every night. Baskets of freshly laundered clothes appeared on their beds daily. And the moment anyone mentioned a food preference, the item materialized in the fridge the following day.

Is this what having a mother is like? Heath had caught himself wondering since the wedding. He’d devoted his childhood to pleasing his real mother, to smoothing things over and making others happy. Having someone else take care of him and his family left him unsettled...and feeling almost unneeded, if that made any good sense.

“Let’s not talk about the trial for now,” Pa said, gruff. “Joy, who should we ask to help?”

She tapped her chin. “Jack’s working across the state as a sheriff’s deputy. James is ranch manager, so we can’t spare him. My nephews are learning the ropes and don’t have enough experience. Jared’s touring with Amberley so that leaves either Justin or Jewel.” No mention of Jesse, of course, the son she’d lost to violence related to his opioid addiction.

“Justin?” Cole exclaimed. “Heck no, not unless you want the place burned down. Remember the Fourth of July when he decided to light fireworks from the church steeple and set the roof ablaze?”

Joy smiled widely at that, and Heath’s stomach plummeted. If not Justin, then the rancher assisting him would have to be...

“Who would you pick, Pa?” Daryl wiped fudge from Noah’s chin.

“I’ll let our range boss decide. He’s in charge of ranch operations while I’m away.” All eyes turned Heath’s way.

Heath’s stomach twisted something awful, and he opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say. Jewel’s dogged determination to free the spare, her no-nonsense efficiency in mounting the new tire and her dry, quick wit had impressed him.

Her challenging, irritating and obnoxious personality, not so much. She was a tough, experienced, capable cowgirl, whose mouth would be a constant source of aggravation. Kelsey had given him until summer’s end to agree to a wedding date, and he needed time, space and peace on the open range to stop bucking his future...something he’d never get riding alongside the brash redhead.

Worse, the connection he’d felt with Jewel last night, the way his thoughts kept straying to her today, warned him of trouble ahead if they spent too much time together.

“Heath?” Pa prompted.

Time to pry his tongue off the roof of his mouth. There was nothing for it. “Jewel.” Heath scraped back his chair. “If you’ll excuse me?”

He trudged to the porch and leaned over the railing, soaking up the fresh air. Twilight was still at the stage where it was more lavender than onyx, with the fireflies just beginning to turn on and off in the yard. Standing there with the birds chirping in the trees, the crosscut-sawing of the crickets and a cattle dog snoring at the top of the stairs, was usually restful.

Heath shoved his hands in his pockets, yanked them out again, then laced them tightly behind his back, unable to settle his mind. Spirit. Heart. All around him, broad-shouldered mountains rose, penning him in, pinning him down.

Goodbye, Nashville.

He squeezed his eyes shut as a burning knot of emotion formed in the back of his throat. Without other prospects, he’d have to accept Kelsey’s father’s offer to become a partner in the supply business.

He’d have to set a wedding date.

Give up gigging.

Music.

He sucked in a sharp, stinging breath, then blew it out. He heard a fluttering overhead and then the hoot of an owl, which for some reason struck him as menacing.

At least his new, lucrative job meant he could help keep Loveland Hills on secure financial footing. It wasn’t the life he’d dreamed of, but it was the one he’d been dealt.

Best he accepted it.

Besides, he loved Kelsey...didn’t he? They’d been together for so long he wasn’t always sure. Their relationship was comfortable, like a pair of worn slippers...and just as boring. But that was typical of people who’d been together as long as he and Kelsey had, he’d heard.

The door banged open behind him, and Pa clapped him on the back. “Jewel will be a whole lot easier on the eye than Justin.”