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Cowboy In Charge
Barbara White Daille
TIMING IS EVERYTHINGSingle mom Layne Slater thought she’d seen the last of Jason McAndry when he chose the rodeo over her and their unborn son. Now, Jason’s back in Cowboy Creek and just as handsome as ever. But Layne can’t give in to those feelings again. She has to protect her children…and her heart.Jason wants to try to make up for the pain he caused when he left. The least he can do is help Layne while he’s home. Before long, Jason realizes he’s finally ready to be the husband, father, and man his family deserves. But can Jason prove to Layne, that this time, their love is forever?
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Single mom Layne Slater thought she’d seen the last of Jason McAndry when he chose the rodeo over her and their unborn son. Now Jason’s back in Cowboy Creek and just as handsome as ever. But Layne can’t give in to those feelings again. She has to protect her children…and her heart.
Jason wants to try to make up for the pain he caused when he left. The least he can do is help Layne while he’s home. Before long, Jason realizes he’s finally ready to be the husband, father and man his family deserves. But can Jason prove to Layne that this time, their love is forever?
“I don’t know how you do it with two of them and only one of you.” Jason exhaled heavily and plopped the paper towels into the cart.
“I manage. Normally, my shopping wouldn’t take this long, but we had a lot of extra food to buy.”
“Told you Scott and I cleaned out the cupboards.” He frowned. “You look about ready to drop.”
“I’m tired,” Layne admitted.
“All right, then let’s get you back home.” He took the cart from her and went in the direction of the checkout counter.
No matter what she had said to her friends about Jason leaving soon, this everyday trip to the store had left her daydreaming of what their life might have been like if he had never left. Their few days together had offered her a taste. But along with the daydreams had come a fear big enough to eclipse all the pleasure she had felt.
She was getting too comfortable with Jason again. Was being reminded much too poignantly of the boy she used to love.
The boy who had stopped loving her.
Dear Reader (#ulink_53f5d68e-06c1-531d-a0b2-b099d64b2318),
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved reading series books. I began with mysteries such as The Bobbsey Twins and Encyclopedia Brown, then moved on to The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Once I fell in love with romance, writing a series of books seemed like the perfect fit for me.
Often, my series are tied together by place, and I’ve loved being able to return to my small towns of Dillon, Texas, and Flagman’s Folly, New Mexico. With the Hitching Post Hotel series, I’m thrilled to have many opportunities to come back to Cowboy Creek, New Mexico. But in case you’re wondering, my series are always stand-alone books. Though a hero or heroine may appear in other stories, they reach their happy-ever-after by the end of their book. Because that’s why we read romance, isn’t it?
Whether you’re a frequent visitor to the Hitching Post Hotel or dropping by for the first time, I hope you enjoy your visit. In this story, Grandpa Jed may have run out of granddaughters to marry off, but he’s still in the matchmaking business! And he’s facing his toughest challenge to date with Jason and Layne, who were once married and divorced…from each other.
I’d love to hear what you think of the books. You can get in touch through my website, barbarawhitedaille.com (http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com), or mailing address, PO Box 504, Gilbert, AZ 85299. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.
Until we meet again,
Barbara White Daille
Cowboy in Charge
Barbara White Daille
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
BARBARA WHITE DAILLE and her husband still inhabit their own special corner of the wild, wild Southwest, where the summers are long and hot and the lizards and scorpions roam.
Barbara loves looking back at the short stories and two books she wrote in grade school and realizing that—except for the scorpions—she’s doing exactly what she planned. She’s thrilled to have published more than a dozen novels, with more in the works, and is grateful for the readers who love her stories. The awards and top reviews her books have garnered are like icing on her favorite dessert: chocolate cake.
As always, Barbara hopes you will enjoy reading her books. She would love to have you drop by for a visit at her website, barbarawhitedaille.com (http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com).
To everyone who asked to
come back to Cowboy Creek.
I hope you enjoy your return visit with
Grandpa Jed and his family and friends!
And as always, to Rich.
Contents
Cover (#u4fb5c1dc-72a7-5188-b1e4-0aa02b26bf42)
Back Cover Text (#u1f19014a-7862-575d-840b-76908ff06ff1)
Introduction (#u06088ce6-ffaf-5070-b9c4-d732c7aef81b)
Dear Reader (#ua0f8806d-5a6b-572b-9610-4d79238c8893)
Title Page (#ubb0bacc3-5ac0-5ae4-b6c5-bd75309d02e2)
About The Author (#u1e79b6cb-2804-5562-8246-2a392847dada)
Dedication (#u6322321d-f6bd-591d-8fd8-5aaac4fc5469)
Chapter One (#u416b4e4d-43b4-503f-969b-a146b0139915)
Chapter Two (#u83fc2b9b-429e-5eae-8765-0bc6c4a008a4)
Chapter Three (#u17a2bc47-5d24-5b27-a0cf-be953efcf845)
Chapter Four (#u7a30011c-e118-525c-ae31-5524c19f9fcb)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#ulink_54b1eed2-1c65-5d54-b7c5-5ac05188d175)
Spending his afternoon at a kid’s first birthday party normally wouldn’t have made it anywhere near Jason McAndry’s to-do list. As this party was in honor of his buddy’s little girl, he didn’t have a choice.
From his seat on one of the windowsills of the screened-in back porch, he rested his beer bottle on his knee and looked through the sliding glass doors into the house.
Near the crowded dining table, the proud papa hugged his birthday girl, who was all dressed up in pink ruffles with a tiny bow in her nearly nonexistent hair. After one last kiss to her cheek, Greg handed the star of the show over to her mama.
Jason tried for a smile. The man sure did dote on his daughter.
In the three years since they’d met, he and Greg had put in a lot of miles traveling on the rodeo circuit. Back in those early days, they had both been single and fancy-free till Greg had first gotten roped by a woman, then hog-tied into becoming a daddy. Yet his buddy didn’t seem to see things that way.
From that point on, their trips included frequent slide shows as Greg thumbed through the latest photos his wife sent to his cell phone.
Jason shoved his hand into the back pocket of his jeans. His fingertips brushed the edge of his wallet. He had no photos on his phone, carried no pictures except his own on his driver’s license. But in that wallet he’d tucked a now worn and permanently creased copy of another child’s birth announcement.
Greg stepped out onto the porch and slid the glass door closed behind him. He frowned. “What are you doing out here, guarding the beer locker?”
He had left the house to get some space, some breathing room. But he couldn’t say that. “Just came out for a refill.”
Greg nodded at his half-empty bottle. “Doesn’t look like you got one. Or are you ready for another already?”
“No, this one’s still good. And I’ll be driving soon.” He moved to sit in one of the wooden porch benches and set the bottle on the wide arm. “Take a load off. All this master of ceremonies stuff must wear you out.”
“Never.” Greg took a nearby chair. “I’ve got lots of lost time to make up for.”
He meant his absence this season when they had been on the road, competing in rodeos across the country. Mere weeks away in total, while by comparison, Jason hadn’t been back to his hometown in years. He didn’t want to consider why or how he’d left Cowboy Creek. Yet, lately, both had been taking up too much space in his thoughts.
“We’re talking about me hanging up my spurs,” Greg said quietly.
“Giving up rodeo?” He might have done the same at one point. Now he couldn’t imagine making that choice. But Greg had his family to come back to. He had...himself.
Inside the house, both sides of Greg’s family had gathered around his wife and little girl, all of them making too much noise for them to overhear this conversation, even with the windows wide-open on this mild January day. But, like his buddy, he kept his voice low. “You really want to leave your share of the winnings to me?”
Greg laughed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind. You’re welcome to them. I don’t want to miss out on any more of my daughter’s life. And we want more kids. Soon, not down the road.” He swallowed a mouthful of beer, then continued, “Do you ever regret what happened with you and your wife?”
He stiffened. The question had come out of nowhere. Sure, he’d told Greg a long time ago that he’d gotten divorced before he’d hit the rodeo trail. What he hadn’t told him was that had come to pass partly because of his refusal to hang up his spurs. That was only one item on a long list of his ex-wife’s grievances.
After that lone conversation, he and Greg had never discussed it again. He had a feeling he knew why his buddy had brought it up now. “Listen, you may be settling into a rut as an old married man, but don’t go getting any ideas about me joining you in the trenches.”
“There’s a lot to be said about having a family to come home to.”
“Yeah, and there’s a lot I don’t need to say about that.” On that long-ago night over a few too many beers, he had told Greg all about the girl he’d left behind. The high-school-sweetheart-turned-wife who’d turned against him after their last rip-roaring fight. The wife who had wound up kicking him out of their apartment, the only place that had ever felt like home to him. He should have known better than to expect that to last. “Best day of my life, when I started following the rodeo.”
“I thought that, too, once upon a time.”
He rolled his eyes and exhaled heavily. “And if you’re planning to practice your storytelling skills on me, I may just take off again right now.”
“Can’t do that. We haven’t even had the cake yet.” Greg glanced into the house at the crowd around the table in the direction of a leggy redhead, one of his wife’s friends. “How’d the hot date go last night?”
Jason glanced at her, too, then away again. “It went cold fast,” he said shortly. He took another swig from his nearly empty bottle, partly to get the last mouthful of beer but mostly to distract Greg from more questions.
When he’d rung the doorbell of the woman’s apartment last night, she had come to the door dressed to kill. Her shiny blouse wouldn’t have needed more than a touch to slide right off, but the skintight leather pants sure would have required some assistance. Of course, considering her friendship with Greg’s wife and the fact it was a first date, his run around those bases would have happened only in his dreams.
“That was our first and last date,” he said firmly to Greg.
His interest had worn off quickly when she stepped out into the hallway. She began to pull the door closed so abruptly, she would have crushed her little boy in the gap—if Jason hadn’t yelled a warning at her. In her defense, the kid had appeared out of nowhere. And that’s just where she had sent him off to again.
The boy looked about five, not nearly old enough to be left alone, Jason knew. He’d been seven the first time his mother left him on his own, and even that wasn’t old enough. But after the first half-dozen times, he’d toughened up fast.
Yet this woman simply gave the boy an order to step back before she closed the door. No goodbye kiss or cuddle, not even a last-minute rumpling of his hair. And without a sign of anybody else in the house.
“You want to settle him in before we leave?” he asked while they still stood outside her apartment.
“Don’t worry about him. I’ve got a sitter.”
Her offhand care of the child left him wanting to shake his head in wonder. And then to cringe in shame. Who was he to criticize? And yet, the incident had left a sour taste in his mouth. Their evening had gone downhill from there, ending in an early night. When he arrived at the party this afternoon, they had nodded at each other as if they’d just met, then went their separate ways. No problem there. He’d become an expert at moving on.
Greg eyed him. “Don’t you think it might be time to forget about your ex and—”
“Long forgotten already,” he said firmly.
“—find yourself another woman? This time next year, you could have a little girl or boy of your own.”
“Already got one.” Dang. He hadn’t meant to blurt that out. He owed the slip to his unease over last night and to the months Greg had been preoccupied with his baby. Thoughts of his own child had been on his mind so often lately, the words had come out almost naturally.
Greg stared at him. “Well, listen to this. You picked up a woman and never said a word to me?”
Yeah, he could go with that story and continue to keep his secret to himself.
