Cowboy Comes Back / The Cowboy's Convenient Bride: Cowboy Comes Back / The Cowboy's Convenient Bride

Kade leaned against a newel post and watched the interplay between the guests, wondering how long he’d be able to keep his mouth shut.

For a while, probably. For Maddie. For his fiscal well-being.

“You were a rodeo rider,” the lawyer said as she moved to stand beside him. He caught the scent of a light floral perfume. The same scent Sheri wore.

“I was,” Kade agreed.

“What do rodeo riders do after they retire?”

“Ache a lot.”

She smiled, showing beautiful while teeth. There wasn’t anything about her that wasn’t polished and perfect.

“How do you know Joe?” Kade asked.

“He’s my father.”

Kade was surprised. Apparently the daughter had no qualms about publicly contradicting her father. Like father, like daughter. “So you know him well.” Kade swirled the ice in his glass.

She smiled again. “He’s happy with what you’re doing with the colts.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“If you go into business with him, I think you’ll be quite happy.” She raised her eyebrows significantly. “I think I might be happy, too.”

He glanced down at her hand. Even though her name was not Barton, she wore no ring.

“Divorced,” she said, following his gaze.

Kade refrained from telling her he was single. All his instincts were advising him to tread lightly.

“How about you?” she asked.

“Involved,” he lied, making it easier on both of them.

“That’s not good news.”

He shrugged.

Lunch was served shortly thereafter and then Kade put the colts through their paces, wishing Joe had planned the dog-and-pony show before lunch so he could have gotten out of there sooner. It hadn’t taken long for Kade to figure out that the other guests, perhaps with the exception of Joe’s daughter, considered him to be a subspecies—interesting, perhaps, but not one of them. And they weren’t stingy with the condescending attitudes. Nope. There were plenty of those to go around. But in the end, Kade decided the afternoon had been worthwhile, since two of the men there were interested in buying Barton’s high-priced colts, which made his future employment that much more secure.

“Thanks for coming,” Joe said as he walked with Kade to his truck and trailer, which looked decidedly shabby next to the assortment of fancy pickups and SUVs parked along the fence. The colts were already loaded and ready to go back.

“Thanks for showing me off,” Kade replied.

“Hey,” Joe said, unfazed, “that’s part of being in this business. I thought you were used to being in the public eye.”

“I got tired of it,” Kade said.

“Then why is that agent of yours pursuing endorsements?”

How do you know that?

But Kade knew how. And why. Guys like Barton didn’t become money guys because they were generous and trusting.

“What else have you dug up?”

“You drank your way out of your endorsements, you’ve been sober for more than a year and your chances at getting another endorsement deal are just about nil. You’ve been out of the limelight for too long.”

“Then I’m not much of an asset to you.”

“You’re wrong. The people I plan to sell to want horse expertise and pizzazz. You can provide both.”

“But will I?”

“Yes. I think you will.” He spoke confidently, but not patronizingly. It was more a simple, matter-of-fact statement. “It’ll be a mutually beneficial partnership, Kade.”

Kade nodded. It would be beneficial, but he had his limits. “I don’t want to do any more things like today. Talk me up all you want and I’ll show off the colts, but I won’t do more of this meet-and-greet stuff.”

Joe looked as if he wanted to argue, but he must have sensed that Kade could only be pushed so far.

“Agreed.”

LIBBY WAS WORRIED about her mustangs. She had the definite feeling that political clout would end up being far more powerful than her recommendation, which was to leave the herd at its current size, gathering only when the numbers increased by thirty percent, and that the number of cattle on the allotment should remain the same. She was not changing that recommendation. It was based on two years of data and dead on, whether it was what Ellen wanted to hear or not.

Her injured horse, Cooper, was becoming antsy from being confined in his pen, and he let his impatience be known by getting pushy with Libby when she tried to doctor him.

“Knock it off,” Libby growled when he knocked her sideways for the third time as she worked to tape the bandage into place.

“Need help?”

Libby jumped at the sound of Kade’s voice, then brushed the curls back off her forehead. “I didn’t hear you drive in.”

“The dogs met me.” And the traitors were indeed glued to his sides right now, their eyes trained on Libby.

“I was concentrating on the horse. He wants out of here.”

She continued to work, cursing when the horse bumped her again and the tape doubled back on itself.

“He’s moving better,” Kade agreed.

“Yes. We’re both looking forward to him getting back out on the pasture,” she said as she fought to unstick the layers of tape, then gave up and started with a new piece. She peeled it off successfully and set to work.

Kade watched without saying a word, making her a zillion times more aware of him than she should have been.

“So,” Libby finally said, shoving her hair back from her forehead again as she straightened and wishing she’d pulled it back with a rubber band, “what brings you here?”

“I have questions. Professional ones.”

Her taut muscles relaxed slightly. “Shoot.”

“I’ve been talking to Joe Barton. He seems to think the BLM will be gathering mustangs near his allotments.”

“I don’t think so,” Libby said in an insulted tone. “If they are, it’s news to me.” Damn it. What was Ellen up to now?

“Okay, then, hypothetically, if you ever did gather Blue’s herd, what are the chances of him being put up for adoption?”

And then she understood. He wanted Blue. She wished she had a more positive answer than the one she was about to give him. “An older stallion? Not good.” She let herself out of the pen, even though she was tempted to keep some metal between the two of them.

“Even though he’s infirm?”

“Even less likely.” Libby slipped the ring of tape over her wrist like a bracelet, then closed up the vet kit and stowed it against the wall. She started out of the barn and Kade followed, closing the door behind him. Libby purposely kept walking toward Kade’s truck. He might be there to get answers, but there was no reason he couldn’t be on his way once he got them.

“Let’s say there’s someone who’ll give him a home, like, say, me.”

Libby let out a sigh. “If I make specific recommendations as to mustang adoption, even if they make sense, the powers that be won’t listen to them. There was a scandal a few years back, with federal employees earmarking the best horses for friends and relatives to adopt. Anything that even hints at that is frowned upon. And let me tell you, my new boss hates me, so anything I suggest that’s out of the ordinary is sure to be shot down.”

“Your outfit doesn’t make things easy, does it?”

“Protocol,” Libby muttered. “New sheriff in town and she ain’t friendly.”

“I see.” Kade shoved his thumbs in his front pockets. “I want Blue back. He won’t make it through next winter, the shape he’s in.” Kade was wearing that stubborn expression again.

Libby gave him a hard look. “You aren’t thinking of doing something dumb, are you?”

“Like?”

“Robbing a government herd.”

He cocked his head. “It’s not robbing if you own the animal.”

“It is if you can’t prove he’s yours.”

“Worried about me?” he asked softly, his gaze sliding to her lips.

“Yeah,” she said sardonically. “Because if they locked you up, I might never see you again.”

“Libby.” he said in that same low voice, not at all deterred by her sarcasm. Her name came out like a caress.

“Damn it, Kade. Stop it.”

He pulled his gaze back to her eyes. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

And she was sorry that he was giving her that look, the one that used to make her insides go liquid. “That’s great, Kade. But it doesn’t make it all better.”

“If I go and get Blue, will you turn me in?”

The quick change of topic threw her off balance. “Maybe.”

He took a step closer. “No, you won’t.”

Libby raised her chin. “How do you know?”

He took her face in his warm, work-roughened hands and, heaven help her, Libby did not take that important step back. The one she had to take if she wanted to keep their relationship the way it was. He lowered his mouth to hers, kissed her. Slowly. Deeply.

It felt so familiar, so welcome, so hot, that it was a few seconds before Libby shoved against his chest, knocking him back against his truck. She spun around and stalked to the house without a word, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth as she went. Erasing the sensation.

The rest of the evening was shot and Libby eventually gave up and went to bed early. To her lonely bed. She was tired of being alone. And Kade was not the answer.

LIBBY MET SAM after work on Friday night for their dinner date. Since he’d just come off an emergency call, his blond hair was rumpled and he wore jeans and a plaid shirt. She wore her field khakis and a black T-shirt. They made a striking couple when they walked into the Supper Club, Wesley’s finest dining facility, because they were the most underdressed couple there.

Over drinks, Sam told her vet stories, which Libby always found entertaining since she understood animals almost as well as, and in some ways better than, he did. The restaurant started to fill up after their main course arrived, and Libby was glad they’d opted to go out early.

“You never told me you were friends with Kade Danning,” Sam said.

Libby stared at him over what had been a fairly decent steak—until then.

“I guess I didn’t see any reason to.” Sam, who was normally quite intelligent, didn’t take the hint.

“I used to love to watch him ride.”

“He was good,” Libby said, picking up her glass of water, sipping.

“I thought it was a shame, what happened to him.”

“You mean when that horse almost did him in?”

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