Her Forever Cowboy

She didn’t like him taking control like this. But since she could tell there was no sense arguing, she didn’t. She was too tired. She took the rest of the keys from him. “Eight will be fine. Thank you,” she managed, though her jaw ached from clenching it.

He smiled and she could practically hear him thinking “checkmate.”

Maybe not, though, she thought a few minutes later as she closed the door to her apartment and listened to the motorcycle purr its way back toward the pavement. The man was used to sweeping into emergency situations and taking charge. That was what he did for a living—helped in rescues, then remodeled and rebuilt after hurricanes and other disasters. So maybe there wasn’t anything personal about how he was treating her.

Maybe. But as she took a quick shower and then fell into her bed—basically passing out from exhaustion—she knew she wasn’t buying that notion by a long shot. Cole had pretty much made it clear that he thought she was an irresponsible fool for letting herself get so tired. He’d been doing his civic duty by keeping “the fool woman” off the streets—that was pretty personal. Of course, nearly running him down was, too.

“I’m just sayin’ it’s a fine thang you came along when ya did last night,” Applegate Thornton said, his voice booming in the early morning quiet.

Cole had just crawled out from under the truck when the older man and his buddy, Stanley Orr, pulled up in their trucks, one behind the other. They’d wasted no time trotting down the incline to see what was going on with the lame truck. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see the two old friends out and about so early, since they always met at Sam’s diner for coffee at sunup then played checkers all morning. Today they’d be late; Susan’s mishap was of more interest to them than today’s checkers game.

The seventysomething older men had been great friends of his grandfather and Cole always enjoyed seeing them on his quick trips through town. Now, he wiped his hands on his work rag and nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. “I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m glad I was out here when I was or else Susan would still have been sitting here when you fellas drove up this morning.

“What I’m wondering is what in the world everyone is thinking when they call that woman out on the road at all hours of the night? There are other vets to call, you know.” He planned to let everyone know he was unhappy about that situation and there was no better place to start than with these two. Talk about a grapevine. It didn’t get any quicker than them when it came to spreading information.

Instead of answering him they looked at each other and raised their bushy brows. “Am I missing something here?” Cole asked. “You can bet I’m having a talk with my brother when I get back to the house.” Oh, yeah, Seth was about to get a royal chewing out for letting Susan leave the ranch when clearly she was ready to drop. He’d told Cole once that she needed help, so why didn’t she have it?

Stanley, affable, slightly plump and balding looked perplexed. “You ain’t been around Susan much, have ya?”

Applegate, taller and thin as a fence post, wore his signature frown as he grunted. “Obviously.”

Both men wore hearing aids and still their words cracked like thunder, even App’s grunt stirred up the cattle milling in the pastures behind the barbed wire.

“So what does that mean?” Cole asked.

Applegate grunted again. “It means that Susan does what she wants. That gal is all-fired determined to be accepted on a man’s terms. If any of us was ta tell her she ought’n ta be out that late—or worse, if we had livestock that needed tending and we didn’t call her—” He whistled long and slow, while wagging his head.

“That’s right,” Stanley continued. “She’d let us have it with both barrels.”

“After what I saw last night, I can believe that.”

“Yup, I’m shor you did. That little gal kin be real hard-nosed when it comes to her job,” Applegate said. “She don’t take kindly ta bein’ treated like a lady. And she’s real good at what she does.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Stanley said.

She’d made it clear last night that she hadn’t liked him taking charge. “Maybe so,” he said, at last. “But I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel right. And it sure doesn’t feel safe.”

App tugged on his hat brim as the sun shifted a bit higher over the horizon. “It’ll be a little easier when she gets her office relocated here in town.”

That got Cole’s attention. “What do you mean?”

Stanley and Applegate grinned at each other then gave him the we-know-something-you-don’t-know look. Cole knew they were also speculating at his interest in Susan. But he couldn’t help that. He leaned against the truck and crossed his arms waiting for them to elaborate. He was going to have to get on the road in a few minutes but he wanted the lowdown on this.

“So…” Applegate took his time, rubbed his narrow jaw. “She didn’t tell you she’s bought a place on the west side of town about four miles out.”

“It was two in the morning when I came across her. We weren’t engaging in conversation beyond me telling her I was taking her home—” No sense elaborating on the tone of that conversation.

“Guess that went over like a basket of mad cats.” Stanley chuckled. “You don’t ‘tell’ our Susan anythang where her business is concerned. That’s what we been tryin’ ta tell ya.”

He shouldn’t have let it slip that he’d “told” her he was taking her home. No one needed to know he’d had to hijack her keys to get her to cooperate. Hardheaded woman.

“So where is this place?” he asked.

“It’s a small property—little house and a large metal building.” Applegate was more than happy to fill him in. “It used to be that oil supply company. You remember the place? Back b’fore the oil boom busted in the eighties. B’fore ever’body moved off.”

Cole nodded. “I remember.” It was the beginning of the town’s slow death.

“She’s got some contractor comin’ outta Ranger in a couple of days ta start turnin’ it into her new office.”

“You don’t say.” She was moving to Mule Hollow and hadn’t mentioned it. “Is she going to live here?” he asked to clarify his assumption.

“Yup,” Stanley said. “In the house on the property. I even thank she done put some stuff in thar.”

When he’d made that comment about where she lived now, she’d had the opportunity to tell him and hadn’t. She kept her business close to the cuff. Or she knew he’d soon find out and this was her way of telling him to mind his own business. He smiled at that. She had spunk. He pushed away from the truck.

“Well, thanks for the info, fellas. Now I better get this to her so she’ll have wheels when she needs them. Wouldn’t want to make her mad.” That got him some slaps on the back and hoots of agreement.

Earlier, after taking her home, he’d driven the hour and a half back to the ranch and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about their encounter.

He didn’t stay at the ranch house when home, but down at the old stagecoach house that was the original homestead on their ranch. He always enjoyed the old house and had felt that same ole tug of nostalgia as he’d driven down the dirt road toward it. The moon had highlighted the rocky road as it wound across the pastures and as it always had, he couldn’t help thinking about the others who’d traveled this same road over a hundred years ago. Men such as Doc Holliday and outlaw Sam Bass had passed by either on horseback or by stage. As a kid he’d thought it was cool and that hadn’t changed as he’d aged. His great-great-great-great-grandpa Oakley had won the place in a poker game more than a century ago.

Now Applegate looked from him to his truck. “We kin follow you ta Susan’s and brang you back if ya need us to.”

Cole shook his head and packed up his last few things. “Thanks, but no need. I’ve got it covered.” He figured if Susan wasn’t making any calls out this direction, he’d have Seth drive to Ranger and pick him up.

After only a bit of cajoling, the tires found grip and he drove out of the ditch. App and Stanley waved him on as he headed toward Ranger—looking in his rearview, he saw them hop in their trucks and head toward town. They were driving at a fast clip; no doubt about it, everyone was about to know about last night….

Susan didn’t like to show weakness, it was obvious. Was that what was driving her crazy attitude last night?

Not that he thought some determination in a woman wasn’t a good thing. Before he could pull back, his thoughts went to Lori. She’d been full of determination, too; if it hadn’t been for that grit she wouldn’t have made it as long as she had…Six years and he still couldn’t think about that sweet girl without his gut twisting up like a bull had stomped him. And just like he always did, he shoved the thoughts of her back into the dark shadows and forced all the trapped emotions down with them.

He focused instead on Susan Worth.

The woman had been careless last night and almost killed herself. It bothered him that she was so obsessed with her job that she’d take her life for granted…when others fought so hard for one more breath.

Stop it. It usually took at least a couple of weeks in one spot before restless memories drove him to move on. He’d been home less than five hours and already he was fighting with the past. Home was always the worst. It was easier to pretend things like home and hearth didn’t matter when you didn’t have them staring you in the face.

Wyatt better show up soon or Cole was out of here. His brothers knew he’d fallen in love with a terminally ill barrel racer.

But they’d never met Lori. She’d been more ill than he’d realized when he first met her and that had prevented any travel. She had tried hard not to fall for him—to prevent the hurt something like that could cause. She’d tried hard to ignore what he’d known from the moment he’d laid eyes on her sweet face…love didn’t have a perfect timetable. It happened even while a person was dying…love was brutal that way. And special.

As long as he was on the road, working to help folks, he did all right and actually enjoyed his life. When the restless memories threatened, he finished up what he was doing and headed out to find a new job—a new project.

And the recent turn of bad luck on the Gulf of Mexico had given him plenty of choices. Helping rebuild something a hurricane or a tornado had taken away from a family gave him a good feeling. It also helped the anger at God that plagued him…he tried not to dwell on it, and he wasn’t going to now. Only, coming back to Mule Hollow was coming home…the place he’d longed to bring Lori. Home reminded him too much of how bad God’s timing was and how He seemed to pick and choose who He deemed good enough to get a miracle. Or who didn’t.

Who got their prayers answered…and who didn’t.

Home was where you brought the one you loved…unless you weren’t one of the special ones who God shined His light on and listened to.

Chapter Three

Susan was standing out front with a tiny, blue-haired woman and a large dog that resembled a chocolate Lab but was shaped more like a big, brown, chocolate kiss…or a gigantic tick.

Susan was far more attention-worthy than the dog, with the morning sun glinting off her corn-silk hair. But even her beautiful hair didn’t compare to the smile on her face—that smile startled him so bad he ran over a curb while pulling into the parking lot.

Yup, he was the one who needed rest now. It would help him get his head back on straight—a few hours of shut-eye had sure helped the prickly vet. No doubt about that…no doubt at all.

It wasn’t just the softening of the dark circles, but she was smiling—he hadn’t even got a hint of one of those last night. Though he didn’t figure that was totally due to lack of sleep.

“Good morning.” He got out of the truck and moved toward the women, who had been staring at him ever since he’d jumped the curb.

Susan crossed her arms and nodded—the smile gone in a flash.

But the little old lady had one big enough for the both of them. “Well, one thing’s the truth, my mornin’ just got better thanks to you, young man.” She gave him the once-over. “My goodness, but you are a handsome fellow. Just in the nick of time, too. Bein’ timely is important. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, ma’am, real important—”

“Good. Good.” She broke him off with a wave of her cane. “I like you—I like this one, Susan.” She shot Susan a sharp eye then gave him a soft smile. “Would you mind terribly, helping Catherine Elizabeth into her car seat? Arthur, the scamp, is acting up today—been giving me and my Catherine Elizabeth both a run for our money. But you—” she smiled up at him, her cloudy blue eyes shining as she grabbed hold of his bicep and squeezed like she might check the ripeness of a grapefruit “—you look like you’re in plenty good shape, so the old bully won’t bother you. No sirree, he won’t.”

Cole looked around for Arthur with every intention of setting the so-called bully straight. He wouldn’t stand by and let a man mistreat the little lady. But there wasn’t anyone else around. He glanced at Susan for some kind of hint and saw that she was biting back a smile. And amazing enough her eyes were twinkling—he lost his train of thought.

“Mrs. Abernathy, may I introduce Cole Turner,” she said rather loudly. “He’s the one who came to my rescue last night. Cole, this is Mrs. Abernathy and this is the one and only Catherine Elizabeth.”

Mrs. Abernathy was still holding on to his bicep with her tiny hand and gazing up at him sweetly. Catherine Elizabeth had managed to lift to her feet and lumbered over to him. She sank onto his boot like a melting blob of ice cream.

“Glad to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” Cole said. “And Catherine Elizabeth, too.” He glanced around again for Arthur but no man had come out of the building. They all were looking at him expectantly—waiting. “Oh, sorry, you want me to load the dog into the car?”

“Thank you. She’s just too much for me. But not you.” She rubbed his arm. “You remind me of my Herman—God rest his soul. He was tall and strong, too. I’m glad Susan’s found a young man like you.”

“Mrs. Abernathy,” Susan interjected, “he’s not my, um, young man.”

Mrs. Abernathy patted his arm. “Well, he should be, dear. You need a strong man, since you’re such a darling, strong woman yourself. I, too, was a strong woman.”

It was Cole’s turn to bite back a smile. The woman wasn’t even five foot and probably had never weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet in her entire life.

She gave him a knowing look. “There’s more to being strong than size, young man. Arthur’s just beat me down a bit through the years and I have to admit it weighs on me…makes even my strong spirit weak at times.”

Cole shot Susan an inquiring glance. “Who is that?” he mouthed over the little lady’s head.

“Ohh,” Susan gasped. “Sorry. Mrs. A., as we affectionately call her, and Catherine Elizabeth both suffer from Arthur-itis.”

Mrs. A. shook her head. “He’s a mean one, that Arthur. But the good Lord puts such nice men in my path to help out in times such as these.” She let go of his arm and, leaning on her cane, she walked carefully to her car.

Watching her slow progress, Cole agreed that Arthur was a real bummer. “Will it hurt when I pick her up?” he asked Susan, staring down at the dog.

“Just be careful and she’ll be okay. But don’t throw your back out or anything.” The last part was soft so that Mrs. Abernathy couldn’t hear.

He almost laughed as he leaned down for the dog. Who did she think he was? Some kind of wimp?

“I mean it—lift from the knees,” Susan said, bending over to whisper the words close to his ear.

The warmth of her breath tickled his skin and sent a shiver of awareness rippling over him. He chuckled, both from the humor in the warning and the shock of her warm breath on his skin, then he lifted—whhoa! The dog was deadweight.

Susan slapped him on the back. “Told you lift with the knees.”

“No kiddin’.” Sending her a good-natured scowl, he then gave it a fortified effort. It felt as if he was hauling a bag of lard into his arms. “What does she feed this horse?” he muttered for Susan’s ears only. She chuckled and Catherine Elizabeth promptly gave him a big ole lick across the jaw, as if telling him not to worry.

“Oh, look, my baby likes you,” Mrs. Abernathy called as she swung the door open wide.

“Seems that way,” he grunted. Reaching the car, he leaned in and placed the dog gently into the backseat. She immediately settled into a spot worn into the imprint of her body.

“Can I help you?” He held out one hand to Mrs. Abernathy after gently closing the door on that…dog.

Mrs. Abernathy batted her eyes at him and blushed. “You are such a catch, young man.” She slipped her hand into his. She looked at Susan. “If you were smart you’d snatch this one up before someone else puts a ring on that blank finger of his.”

Susan surprised him by not looking insulted at the notion. Instead she smiled patiently at her client. “You take care now. And call me if Catherine Elizabeth gets uncomfortable. That extra dose of meds should help her.”

“Thank you, dear,” the tiny lady said and eased behind the steering wheel. “You,” she said, squeezing his hand before releasing it, “have made my old heart’s day!”

“And you have made mine,” he said. “You be careful.”

She gave him a mischievous smirk. “What fun would that be? Bye now.”

He laughed and moved out of her way to stand beside Susan. They watched as the big Crown Victoria eased out of the drive. Mrs. Aberathy’s little blue head could barely be seen over the dash and was totally hidden from behind.

“How does she drive a car that big?”

Susan laughed. “Carefully.”

“Thank goodness. I half expected her to blast out of here on two wheels.”

Susan beamed. “There was probably a day when she did exactly that. Arthur’s put a damper on that, I’m afraid.”

“Not on her spirit, though, I can see,” he said, suddenly feeling rascally himself. “So, you gonna take her advice and marry me before someone else does?”

He was kidding. Susan knew he was, but the question took her completely by surprise. “Of course,” she said, turning to face him. “I’ve been waiting on you my whole life,” she teased back, momentarily letting her guard down.

A slow, dangerous smile spread across his no-way-should-he-be-so-handsome face and his eyes lit with mischief. “You did a joke. Sleep agrees with you, Miss Worth.”

She laughed. “I guess it does. But don’t go rubbing it in or I’ll have to hurt you,” she said, before she thought about what a bad idea it was. And it was. She glanced away, toward her truck, taking a breath to settle the strumming of her heart. “Thanks for bringing my truck back.” She headed inside the clinic before she got herself into trouble. The scrape of his boots on the wooden porch said he was following her. “I’m assuming you aren’t still holding it hostage and you’re actually going to hand the keys over to me.”

His low rumble of laughter had her moving faster to get inside and behind the counter. She needed a barrier between them—she’d enjoyed watching him with Mrs. Abernathy and Catherine Elizabeth a little too much. The man was a charmer.

And bossy, she reminded herself.

And a rover with no concept of responsibility…not a man for her.

“Truck’s all yours,” he said, leaning a hip against the counter. “It checked out good. No undercarriage damage at all. Just a whole herd of dirt clods. The only bad working part it had last night was a worn-out driver who needs to take better care of herself.”

And here we go again! “I was tired,” she snapped, letting the pencil she’d picked up fall to the desk. “It happens. Can we drop that?” Of course her anger was welcome because it helped put that much-needed barrier back up.

He cocked a brow and his gaze dropped to the pencil she’d just dropped. He picked it up, then as he studied her, balanced it on his upper lip as a schoolboy might do. Sigh. The man looked entirely too cute…and was probably well aware of it. She tapped her boot.

“Well,” she snapped again, “are you going to drop it?”

“Nope,” he said, causing the pencil to fall. He caught it without looking. “Not unless you admit that you should have taken your safety into consideration. That sleep you got last night did you a world of good, didn’t it?”

She’d slept like a rock for four hours, but boy, she hated admitting it to him. “If you must know,” she huffed, “Mrs. A. had to knock on my door and wake me up this morning.”

“All right! Hit me with five,” he whooped and held up his palm. “That’s good.”

She ignored the invitation. “I don’t like oversleeping.”

He wiggled his fingers. “C’mon. Hit me with some love.”

Huh? “No! Would you stop?”

He shook his head, reached across the counter and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. His touch was gentle and as the slightly rough pads of his fingers slid across her skin she shivered. Startled by his actions and her reaction she started to pull away, but he held firm and laid her palm against his.

“There, that wasn’t so hard,” he said. “You need to loosen up, Susan Worth.”

Tugging free of his grasp, she hoped she wasn’t pink and that she didn’t look as shaken as she felt. “You need to mind your own business,” she ordered.

He slapped his hand to his chest. “Wow, what a blow. And after all I’ve done for you.”

“Look,” she offered, needing to get him gone. The sooner he was out of her hair the better off she’d be. “I’ve got a couple more patients to see this morning and then I’m heading out to Clint Matlock’s ranch for the rest of the afternoon. I could give you a ride back, but not before then. Unless, of course, you’ve already arranged a ride.” Something told her she wouldn’t be so lucky.

“Thanks. I’ll wait for you. Unless you need me to hoist more obese dogs into cars—I hope all your clients aren’t that large.”

Despite herself, a smile tugged at her lips. “I’ve given up trying to get Catherine Elizabeth on a diet. Mrs. A. has no one else to cook for, and from what I understand, Herman loved to eat. So she can’t help but spoil poor Catherine Elizabeth.”

Cole did a biceps curl, flexing his muscle for her. “She liked my guns. How about you? I mean, since you have agreed to marry me, what do you think?”

She grunted. “I think you need to go sit down and read a magazine.”

“Yup. Just as I thought. You are sidestepping the question because you agree with Mrs. A.”

Oh, she agreed—the man had some muscles. Probably from all that construction work he did. But she wasn’t about to tell him.

She was relieved when the sound of a motor drew her to glance out the window at the truck pulling up outside. She sent up a silent word of thanks that she could get to work and hopefully get her head straightened out…because it was playing in dangerous waters at the moment. She was moving to Mule Hollow for more reasons than her work. She was moving there with the intention of making room in her life for a husband. That meant flirting with inappropriate men, like Cole, was out of the question.

Now, she thought as she met Cole’s watchful stare, if only God would suddenly zap the handsome rover back to wherever it was he’d been before he’d ridden into town last night, she’d be one happy gal.

A man like Cole was not hard to read. He had no plans to settle down; it was all about his job—a job he loved. The ranch he owned with his two brothers had started out as a stagecoach stop—Cole’s roots ran six generations deep and yet of the Turner men, including a first cousin who had also been a groomsman in Seth’s wedding, Seth was the only one who’d actually stayed true to those roots by keeping the ranch going.

Susan wanted a family. Her mind was focused on that, and yet she still had to keep her business running. Her dad had cared so much about her having a career, wanting his little girl to be able to take care of herself. She’d done that, but now she had to find a way of balancing family with her work. She knew that meant she had to find a man who would complement her life. So even looking at a rover like Cole was out of the question.