Cowboy Brigade

“Can I help you?” Lindsay asked, moving closer, the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention, her knees suddenly wobbly.

“I thought maybe I could help you.”

That voice again.

Lindsay clutched the bridle with nerveless fingers, all the blood draining from her face. It couldn’t be. Not now. Not him.

As though dragged by an invisible rope, she moved closer until she could see the man’s face.

She gasped, her hand going to her throat and then reaching out toward him. He had to be a mirage. “Wade?”

The man with ice-blue eyes and coal-black hair nodded. “Hello, Ms. Kemp. Or should I say Mrs. Murphy?”

Chapter Two

Wade stared down into Lindsay’s gray-green eyes, drinking in every detail of her face from the finely arched brows to her stubborn chin and the freckles sprinkled liberally across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. She’d pulled her glorious mane of fiery auburn hair up into a loose, messy knot, but curling wisps had escaped, framing her face, giving her a vulnerable appearance, belying her strength and fierce independence.

She took his breath away.

“What…” She gulped and started again. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Iraq, Afghanistan or somewhere dangerous.”

He shook his head. “Not anymore, unless you consider the Long K Ranch dangerous.” He had been in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and to hell and back. Nothing could be as bad as being in the sandbox of the Middle East.

“Why here?” Lindsay whispered. “Why now?”

“I’m home. Your grandfather hired me on as a ranch hand.”

Lindsay’s face paled and she blinked several times, her body swaying.

Wade reached for her, afraid she’d fall.

“No!” She held up her hand, knocking his away. “I don’t need you.”

“Sorry. You looked like you were going to faint.”

She squared her shoulders and looked down her nose at him. “Kemps don’t faint.” Even though she tried hard to look strong, her words shook, belying her tough stance.

As stubborn and beautiful as ever.

Seeing her made his chest ache. Wade forced himself to look away. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I have a riding lesson to teach. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Don’t you have better things to do in town?”

“I can’t imagine anything better than teaching disabled children to ride, can you?”

He smiled and brushed a hand along her cheek. As soon as he felt the smoothness of her skin, he regretted reaching out to her. But he couldn’t help himself. “Always taking care of people, aren’t you?”

“Yes. You got a problem with that?” She knocked his hand away again. “I take my work seriously.”

He’d expected her to be a full-time assistant for her husband, the good Dr. Murphy. He’d counted on it and could kick himself for his automatic response to her nearness, his desire to hold her, touch her, feel her lips against his.

Lindsay Kemp’s face had been what kept him alive throughout his captivity, what gave him the will to take the next breath. Even though he knew she’d married, that they could never be together, he’d lived to see her face again. “I would have thought you’d be working with the doctor now.”

Her auburn brows wrinkled. “Why would you think that?

“I didn’t think you’d still be working out here.” And if she worked at the Long K Ranch on a regular basis, his mission would be in jeopardy—his focus compromised. “What does your husband think of you coming out here?”

Her brows sank deeper over her eyes. “Husband?” Then her eyes widened and she shook her head. “I’m not married to Cal Murphy, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Wade stepped back, his heart skipping several beats before it slammed into his rib cage at a million beats per minute. “Not married? But I thought…”

“If you’d bothered to keep in touch, you’d have known that. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” She pushed around him, hurrying toward the saddle racks where she selected a child’s saddle and flung it over her shoulder.

As if he’d just been punched in the gut, Wade stood rooted to the barn floor struggling to remember how to breathe. “What happened? Last time I was here, you were engaged.”

“It didn’t happen.” She marched toward the barn door, her gaze fully averted from him, she refused to meet his eyes.

Stunned by her revelation, it took Wade several seconds to come to grips. He sprang forward, blocking her exit. “Why?”

She stared up into his eyes. “Not because of you, if that’s what you think.”

He let the breath out that he’d been holding, slowly so that she couldn’t tell how much her answer had meant to him, and how much it hurt. “Let me help you.” He reached for the saddle, lifting it effortlessly.

“I don’t need help.” She jerked away, her face flaming a dull red. “I’ve managed on my own for years.”

“I know you don’t need help, but I work here now. Let me do my job.”

“As for that…we’ll see.” She clutched the bridle to her chest with one hand and yanked the saddle from his hands with the other. “In the meantime, don’t bother to unpack. I want to talk to my grandfather first.”

Lindsay marched out of the barn, her head held high like a queen.

With every ounce of his strength he fought to keep from following her, dragging her into his arms and kissing her so thoroughly that she’d forget all about Cal Murphy and the five years he’d been away.

Snickering from the stall behind him made Wade come to his senses faster than his own ability to talk himself down. Until that moment, he’d completely forgotten the man named Frank was still in the same barn with him.

Frank stood leaning on his pitchfork a smirk curling one side of his mouth. “She isn’t any more interested in you than she is me.”

“Shut up, Frank.” Wade stalked to the pile of feed sacks stacked inside the barn door and slung one over his shoulder. Flinging a fifty-pound bag of feed did nothing toward slowing his heart rate or reining in the rampant thoughts racing through his head. And Frank’s smirking attitude just made him want to hit someone.

Lindsay wasn’t married to Cal Murphy.

Wade ripped open the bag and poured sweet feed into one of the feed bins. Back at the stack of feed bags, he hefted another onto his shoulder.

Why hadn’t she married Cal? Was she still living at the Long K Ranch?

One question after another rolled over in his mind until they began repeating themselves.

He’d come to Freedom, Texas, fully expecting to find Lindsay Kemp married and gone from the ranch. If he’d known she was still here, he never would have agreed to go undercover to expose her grandfather.

At that moment he couldn’t get past the one truth.

Lindsay Kemp wasn’t married.

He dumped the last bag of feed into the bin and straightened.

Frank stood looking at him, still leaning on the pitchfork.

Wade glared at Frank. “Gets done quicker if you actually work at it.”

“What do you care? She’ll have you out of here so fast you won’t know what hit you.”

Not if I can help it. With his jaw set, his fingers clenched, Wade strode out of the barn and directly to the big house. He had to talk to Henry Kemp before Lindsay got back to him.

FIVE-YEAR-OLD Zachary ran around in circles, stopping every two or three spins to gather rocks from the ground and line them up in a neat row. He still held the sugar cube clenched in his fist.

Lindsay smiled. Stacy had her hands full with Zachary. Twins were difficult at times, but an energetic autistic child had to be even harder to cope with.

“Zachary, why don’t you feed Whiskers his sugar cube?” Lindsay suggested.

The boy immediately stopped running and held out his hand with the damp lump of sugar.

Whiskers plucked it from his palm with his big, velvety lips.

Zachary giggled and pulled his hand back, wiping it against the side of his jeans.

Lindsay tossed a blanket on the horse and settled the saddle in place over it.

“Who’s the hunk with the beard?” Stacy asked.

Without looking at her friend, Lindsay reached beneath the horse for the leather strap. “Does it matter?”

“Not that I’m in the market or anything, but he’s definitely drool-worthy. Spill, girl, who is he?”

“Wade Coltrane.” Lindsay shoved the leather strap through the girth ring and pulled up on it a little harder than necessary.

Whiskers puffed out his belly and danced a few steps away from her.

“Sorry, boy.” Lindsay smoothed a hand down the horse’s nose.

Stacy tipped her head to the side. “Wade Coltrane…” Her eyes widened and a grin spread across her face. “The Wade Coltrane you used to talk about? Weren’t you two a thing back in high school?”

“That was ages ago. People change. Some grow up and move on.” Lindsay didn’t like the way this conversation was going. “I’m glad you’ve been bringing Zachary here. He seems to like the horses.”

“He loves it. If nothing else, he’s getting fresh air and sunshine.” Stacy planted her hands on her hips. “You’re changing the subject.”

“Yeah, the other subject is off-limits.”

“Off-limits?” Stacy pouted. “You’re no fun. Just when we were getting somewhere with Wade.”

“I’m not getting anywhere with him. Apparently my grandfather hired him. I can just as easily fire him.” She straightened and glanced down at Zachary. “Ready to ride?”

Zachary danced in place, staring up at the horse, his eyes rounded.

“Let me get him up there. I never know how he’ll react.” Stacy pulled her son into her arms, talking to him in soothing tones. “Hey, sweetie, Whiskers wants to take you for a ride.”

Lindsay steadied the horse, stroking the big animal’s back as Stacy settled Zachary in the saddle.

As though a switch had been turned, Zachary calmed and sat still, a smile spreading across his little face.

Lindsay loved this part of her job. When a disabled child made a connection with the animal, all her efforts seemed worth it. It didn’t pay much, but every little bit helped and the rewards were far deeper than monetary.

She adjusted the stirrups to fit the length of the boy’s legs, and handed him the reins, laying them in his hands the way a western rider should hold them. With her fingers hooked through the bridle close to the horse’s mouth, Lindsay looked up at the boy. “Ready, Zachary?”

The child grunted and rocked in his saddle. He was ready.

As Lindsay walked the horse around the ring, her thoughts strayed to the man she’d left in the barn.

Her stomach did a complete flip-flop. Wade Coltrane had returned to Freedom. Oh God, why now? She’d spent the last five years trying her hardest to forget the man. He’d blown through on leave five years ago, just when she thought she’d gotten over him the first time, upended her life and left.

Lindsay had agreed to marry Cal Murphy, the most eligible bachelor in town. All her financial woes would have been solved and she would have been married to a rock-solid, honest-to-goodness nice guy.

Then Wade showed up, wearing his Class A greens, his hair cut high and tight, clean-shaven and so handsome that he took her breath away. He’d rocked her world all over again.

She’d thrown everything out the window when he’d taken her in his arms and made mad, passionate love to her. She’d forgotten her promise to Cal, forgotten the years she’d pined for Wade, forgotten everything…including birth control.

When she’d woken up in his truck the next morning, she’d been so horrified that she’d betrayed Cal, she’d told Wade to leave.

And he had. He left and shortly after returning to his duty station, Wade was deployed to Iraq.

Two weeks later, Lindsay discovered she was pregnant.

When she’d broken the news to Cal, he’d demanded a DNA test. Cal wasn’t the father.

Lindsay knew it had to be Wade. When the girls were born with thick black hair and blue eyes, all doubt disappeared.

The sound of girls giggling reached her ears, bringing her out of the past and back to the present.

“Oh God, the girls!” She nearly dropped the reins and ran from the pen.

One look at Zachary reminded her that she couldn’t end the lesson now. The little boy needed the structure of set times and routines to make him comfortable. Lindsay couldn’t do anything but what she got paid to do.

She looked up toward the house and nearly had a heart attack.

Wade walked toward her, Lyric and Lacey skipping along beside him, each holding one of his big hands. He looked so natural, like he belonged with the girls. And they looked just like their father.

Five years of guilt rose in her throat like bile.

She hadn’t known how to tell him then. He’d been deployed, she’d sent him away. It was easier to go on with life on her own, carrying the big secret with her. No one knew except Lindsay who the twins’ father was.

Seeing them together, how could anyone miss the resemblance?

“Tall, dark, handsome and with the added bonus of being good with children.” Stacy grinned at Lindsay. “If you’re not calling dibs, can I?”

“No!” Lindsay said the one word with such force that Whiskers jerked against the bit, jarring Zachary.

The boy dropped the reins and gripped the saddle horn, his face crinkling in a frown.

“Sorry about that, Zachary.” Lindsay stroked the boy’s leg, gathered the reins and handed them to him again. She and Zachary both needed calming after her outburst. One more reason she couldn’t have Wade Coltrane working at the Long K Ranch. She wouldn’t get any work done knowing he was around. Not that she cared for him. She was long over her girlish infatuation.

The twins had readjusted her focus on what was more important. Providing them a good home was the number one goal in Lindsay’s mind.

Lyric and Lacey smiled and laughed all the way to the fence where Stacy stood.

“Look what I found. More students for riding lessons.” He grinned at Lindsay, his gaze challenging her.

What could she say in front of the girls? Afraid she’d blurt out the truth, Lindsay kept her lips tightly shut.

Wade swung Lacey up in his arms and perched her on the rail in front of him.

“Me! Do me!” Lyric raised her hands.

Wade swung her up to sit beside her sister, a hand on each girl to keep them from falling into the pen. “How many children do you teach?” Wade asked.

“A few.” Lindsay guarded her words, her gaze shooting from the girls to Wade and across to Stacy whose eyes had narrowed. She raised a finger and tapped her lips.

Please don’t say anything, Lindsay begged silently. She didn’t want Stacy to state the obvious.

Based on his easy rapport with the twins, Wade hadn’t put the pieces together. He didn’t see himself in the miniature versions of him right under his nose.

If she didn’t have an autistic child riding a horse that she was leading, Lindsay might have given in to the urge to run screaming from the pen.

“I want to ride next,” Lacey demanded.

“I want to ride next,” Lyric parroted.

Wade laughed and turned to Stacy. “Hi, I’m Wade Coltrane, the new ranch hand.” He held out his hand.

Stacy took it, a grin spreading across her pretty face.

At that moment, Lindsay could have scratched her friend’s eyes right out of her head.

She wanted to scream Hands off!

But she couldn’t. Five years ago, she’d made it clear that she didn’t want Wade in her life. Now that she had the girls, she had them to consider. And she didn’t want Wade back if the only reason was the girls.

Lindsay closed her eyes and counted to five. What the heck was she thinking? The girls were as much his as they were hers. He was bound to figure it out sooner or later. Better to tell him, let him get all mad and hope it blows over so she can get on with her life as a single mother.

But not now. Not here. And not in front of the girls and Stacy.

And did she really think he’d let it blow over? Let her continue on with full custody of their girls like their father never existed?

Her feet dragged in the dust of the pen as she led Whiskers in a circle.

The steady, ordered life she’d carefully constructed for the girls was about to change and she could do very little to stop it.

“Mommy, can I ride Little Joe?” Lacey called out.

“Mommy, can I ride Sweetie Pie?” Lyric asked.

Lindsay stared across the length of the pen, her gaze capturing Wade’s as realization dawned on him.

That look of utter shock could not be faked. He stared at her and then down at the girls. “These girls are yours?”

Chapter Three

A hundred questions barreled through Wade’s head. Lindsay had twin daughters? Who was the father? Where was he now? Did he live at the ranch with Lindsay? Where did Cal Murphy fit in the picture? Was Cal the father?

Wade stared at the tops of the girls’ heads. Lindsay had children.

Anger followed closely behind the shock. If Cal was the father, why the hell didn’t he step up to the responsibility of raising his own children? Why hadn’t he married Lindsay?

“Zachary, sweetie, the lesson is over for now.” Lindsay stopped the horse at the rail in front of Stacy and gave her a weak smile. “I’m sorry, Stacy, I just can’t do it today.” She reached up and hooked Zachary beneath the arms.

He clung to the saddle horn and grunted, his face wrinkling in a fierce frown. “Ride!”

Wade placed the girls on the ground and entered the pen with Lindsay. “Hey, big guy, let me help you down.”

The little boy’s eyes rounded and his gaze darted from Lindsay to Stacy and back to Wade.

When Wade reached up for him, Zachary let go of the horn and let Wade lift him off. As soon as he cleared the saddle, he reached for his mother.

Stacy took him in her arms and hugged him. “It’s okay, Zachary. Mr. Coltrane is a nice man. He just wants to help.” She looked across at Lindsay, her brows rising as if in silent question.

Lindsay shook her head. “I’ll see you the day after tomorrow at the fundraiser, right?”

“Right. I kinda have to be there.” Stacy laughed. “Seeing as I’m organizing it. And if you’re in town before then, call me, we can do lunch.” She held her thumb and pinky to her face like she was talking into a telephone and mouthed the words call me.

“Yeah, I will,” Lindsay lied. She loved Stacy, but the last thing she wanted to do was talk to her best friend about Wade Coltrane. Not yet, not when she didn’t know what to do or say. She led Whiskers out of the pen and toward the barn.

“Can I ride Whiskers now?” Lacey danced beside Lindsay out of range of the horse’s hooves.

“Not now. I have to get supper on the table. Maybe tomorrow morning when it’s nice and cool outside.”

Lacey’s face puckered in a frown. “But I want to ride now.”

“I want to ride, too.” Lyric caught up with Lacey and automatically reached for her sister’s hand.

“You can help me brush Whiskers. How about that?”

Both girls hopped up and down. “Yay! We get to brush Whiskers!”

Lindsay thanked God for the buffer her girls created, delaying the inevitable confrontation with Wade. “As long as you’re working here, and I’m not saying that it will last, you can bring in the horses from the pasture. They need to be fed.”

Wade’s eyes narrowed as if he could read her mind and knew she was stalling. “We need to talk.”

No, we don’t. She led Whiskers into the barn and tied him to the outside of his stall, completely ignoring the man she’d left standing in the barnyard. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him watching her and her skin twitched, her heart beating ninety-to-nothing, the mind-numbing, breath-stealing sexual attraction she’d always felt toward Wade still palpable and real. When he turned and walked toward the pasture to bring in the horses, she breathed a sigh and vowed to make quick work of brushing Whiskers so that she could get to the house before Wade.

She had to talk with her grandfather. Wade Coltrane couldn’t work at the Long K Ranch. After he discovered the girls were his, he’d be impossible to avoid. At least if he lived in town, they’d only meet when he had his scheduled visitation.

Lindsay grabbed two hard-bristled brushes and a curry comb, handing the brushes to the girls. “Stand on either side of his head so that he can see you. I don’t want him to spook and kick you.”

Lacey ducked beneath Whiskers’s chin and brushed as high as she could reach. Lyric spent her time petting the horse’s soft nose, the brush forgotten in her other hand.

Meanwhile, Lindsay removed the saddle and blanket, storing them on the saddle rack before hurrying to the feed bin where she scooped up a bucket of sweet feed. She was hooking the bucket to the inside of Whiskers’s stall when Wade led two horses into the barn.

“Where do you want them?” he asked.

“The sorrel mare is Sweetie Pie, she goes in the end stall. Little Joe is the bay, he goes next to Sweetie Pie.” Lindsay turned to the girls. “Okay, I’ll finish up. You two go on up to the house and wash your hands. You can help me cook dinner.”

“Can we have macaroni and cheese?” Lacey asked, her blue eyes sparkling so much like Wade’s in the light shining in through the open barn door.

“I thought you wanted grilled cheese sandwiches.”

Lacey bounced up and down. “We want macaroni and cheese now.”

“Yeah, macaroni and cheese.” Lyric took her sister’s hand, grinning.

“Okay.” How could Lindsay refuse when they looked so eager? “But you have to eat your green beans, too.”

Both girls shouted, “Yay!” Then they handed their brushes to Lindsay and ran for the door.

Lindsay realized her mistake as she stood with the brushes in her hand, alone in the barn with Wade. She grabbed Whiskers’s bridle and led him into the stall, closing the gate behind her. Taking her time, she finished currying the horse, while she held her breath, willing Wade to go back out to the pasture. As soon as he left, she could escape to the house and have that conversation with her grandfather.

She must have groomed the horse twice before she realized she had stalled long enough. Lindsay slipped the bridle from Whiskers’s head and ducked out the stall door. The barn was empty. Wade had left. Sweetie Pie nickered from her stall, wanting her feed.

“Can’t you wait until Wade feeds you?” Lindsay called out softly.

Sweetie Pie nickered again and Little Joe added his protest, stomping his foot in the hard-packed dirt.

“Really? You can’t wait? But I can’t stick around. I can’t do this now. I’m not ready.” Her heart banging against her ribs, her body tense with the urge to flee, Lindsay looked from the horses to the open barn door. She sighed, grabbed two buckets and scooped up sweet feed—one for Sweetie Pie and one for Little Joe—and hung them inside their stall doors.

Still no sign of Wade or the other horses he was supposed to bring in. “You got lucky this time,” she muttered to herself, heading for the barn door. “He’s going to corner you sooner or later and will want to know the truth.”

“Truth about what?” Wade rounded the corner of the barn door, leading a dappled gray gelding and a golden palomino mare.

Lindsay’s face burned. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Wade smiled, his blue eyes twinkling just like Lacey’s had only minutes before.

Lindsay’s chest tightened. That smile had gotten her into more trouble than she could have ever imagined five years ago. It still had the effect of turning her knees to rubber.

Granted, he looked different. No longer the clean-cut soldier who’d come home on leave. He sported a dark, neatly trimmed beard that made him look even more dangerous and…sexier than ever.

“I always liked it that you talked to your horses.” He didn’t move, he and the horses more or less blocking Lindsay’s escape route.

“I understand them and I like to think they understand me.” She shrugged, wishing she had made her run for the house when she’d had the chance. This conversation reminded her of others equally as intimate in the setting and content.