Her Cowboy Hero

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He turned to her, shoving a hand through his hair. She tried not to notice how lifting his arm like that tightened the white T-shirt against the muscular contours of his chest.

“I’m replacing some of the top boards on the porch so no one crashes through them like you did that step this morning, but it’s not just the surface wood that needs fixing. Some of the supporting joists and piers are starting to give out, too. I’ll need to make another supply run tomorrow.”

Damn. Her budget was already strained, and porch repairs had not been on her priority list. That was the kind of thing she’d hoped to take care of once the bunkhouse was ready for guests and she’d had a chance to generate some revenue. Bright side, Hannah. If the scope of the job was greater than Colin had expected, then he’d be here longer, wouldn’t he? That gave her a stronger chance of convincing him to help make her vision a reality.

With that in mind, she conjured a friendly smile and held out the sandwich. “I brought you some food.”

He reached for it eagerly, but his eyes were wary. “What, just one course?”

Maybe now wasn’t the time to mention the six different dessert options inside if he was still hungry later. “I can do understated,” she said. “I told you this morning, the kind of spread I laid out for breakfast is indicative of special occasions. Not a daily occurrence.”

He scowled, looking uncomfortable at being classified with “special occasions,” but then he took a bite of the sandwich. For a second, his features relaxed into an expression of utter satisfaction, and everything female in her clenched at the sight.

Partly out of self-preservation and partly in strategic retreat, she grabbed the now-empty glass of water and went back inside to get him a refill.

“Mommy?” Evan said as she entered the room. “I’ve seen this one before.”

She changed the channel and found him a different cartoon. “I have to give Mr. Colin some water, then I’m going to feed the horses. For real this time,” she said, ruffling his dark hair. Evan had her hair and eye color, but Michael was the one who’d had curls as a child. Plus, Evan had his father’s smile.

When she returned to the porch, she found Colin packing away tools for the night.

She sat on the bench, tugging on her boots. “Can I ask you a favor? I mean, besides the obvious one you’re already doing, rebuilding my disaster of a porch? I was headed to the stable and wondered if you’d come with me. I know you’ve had more experience with livestock than me, and I’d really appreciate your expert opinion on the horses. Not that Henry isn’t an expert, but...”

He cocked his head in silent question. She was used to the chatter of her inquisitive son and Henry’s garrulous tales of bygone days. Colin didn’t waste a lot of words.

“Henry White,” she said. “He worked this ranch for years, and he knows his stuff. His eyesight isn’t what it used to be, though, and he’s a little more, um, absent lately. I’m learning as fast as I can, but I can’t guarantee that if Henry overlooked something I would catch it.”

Colin pressed a finger between his eyes, and she could almost see his thoughts floating in the cool evening air. This lady doesn’t know what she’s doing. Can’t she see this is a doomed enterprise? She refused to believe that. No one was born an expert at anything. What message would she be sending her son if she gave up whenever she encountered difficulties?

She thought back to her conversation with Colin in the bunkhouse. “You said you work with animals ‘as often as you can.’ You must care about their well-being.”

He sighed. “Lead the way.”

“Thank you.” Turning so he wouldn’t see her victorious grin, she opened the container beneath the porch bench and pulled out a large flashlight. There was enough light to get to the stable, but it would be darker when they came back. She stepped gingerly down the stairs. “You can use the flashlight for your walk to the bunkhouse tonight. Or I could drive you.”

“Walking’s fine,” he said. “It isn’t far to the bunkhouse, and I’m not afraid of the dark.”

She almost made a joke about her son and his various coping mechanisms for braving the dark but stopped herself. Colin hadn’t warmed to Evan. She wished it didn’t bother her—tried to tell herself his aloofness was better than Gideon’s phony “let’s be best pals” demeanor—but she was a mom. She naturally wanted others to see what a great kid Evan was.

“How’s your ankle?” Colin asked as they fell into step in the yard.

“Better. Tender, but—”

“Mommy!” Evan called through the screen a moment before banging the door open. He was wearing his own pair of boots and had his blanket around his shoulders like a superhero cape. “Changed my mind. I wanna visit the horsies, too.”

Repressing a groan, she stole a peek at Colin. He looked as if he’d swallowed rusty nails.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell her son no, but the whole reason she’d been comfortable leaving Evan for a short time was because she’d trusted him to watch TV. That obviously wasn’t going to work tonight. Apparently, the combination of horses and a newcomer to their ranch was a lot more mesmerizing than watching Shaggy and Scooby unmask villains.

Colin met her gaze. “Makes no difference to me,” he said stiffly. But, in direct contradiction to his words, he lengthened his stride, putting distance between himself and the Shaws.

“Come on,” she told her son. She pointed at the broken step. “Be careful, though.”

Evan scampered down the stairs with no care for his safety, rushing by Hannah and going straight to Colin. “You’re tall.” Her son’s voice was full of admiration. “You’re like a giant.”

Unsurprisingly, Colin didn’t answer. The silence didn’t deter Evan.

“Did you get tall from eating healthy food? Mommy sings me a song about—”

“Evan!” She intervened before her son reenacted the “Grow Big and Strong” song she’d made up to coax him into eating vegetables. Colin didn’t need to hear it—or see the accompanying dance steps. “Don’t bother Mr. Colin, okay? He’s been working with a noisy saw and hammering nails all afternoon. I’ll bet he’d appreciate some peace and quiet.”

Her son scowled. “Quiet is boring.”

“Don’t argue with your mother.” Colin’s sharp admonishment wasn’t loud, but it startled both Evan and Hannah. She hadn’t expected him to speak. Having him suddenly participate in the conversation was otherworldly, like being riddled by the sphinx.

Evan’s eyes were wide as he craned his head back to regard the “giant.” “Yessir.” Then he miraculously fell silent.

Hannah was impressed. She’d wanted Colin to stick around because of his experience with livestock, but it turned out he wasn’t half-bad with outspoken four-year-olds, either. She caught up with him, turning to give him a smile of thanks. It died on her lips, though, when she got a good look at his profile. Even in the dim light of moonrise, there was no mistaking the pain stamped across his handsome features.

It was an expression that felt familiar, the same kind of agony that had contorted her soul when she’d lost both her husband and, in the same day, her mother-in-law. Ellie Shaw hadn’t been well, and news of Michael’s death had triggered a massive stroke. After years of foster care and praying for home and family, Hannah had lost her only two relatives in one cruel blow. A week later, Hannah had gone into premature labor, barely caring when she was loaded into the ambulance whether she lived or died.

It wasn’t until the next day, when she’d heard Evan’s lusty wail, that she’d realized a piece of Michael still lived on, that not all her family was dead. She had a son who needed her, and she was ashamed of her earlier ambivalence about surviving. For his sake, she’d sworn to find the positives in life, to resist the bleak drag of depression that sucked at her. Evan was the bright spot that motivated her to keep moving forward during the most challenging times.

What motivated Colin Cade? And what had he suffered? She’d never seen such light eyes filled with so much darkness.

* * *

COLIN BREATHED IN the familiar scents of leather and wood, horse and hay. They were soothing, but as ragged as his nerves were after walking to the stable with Hannah and her boy, he would have preferred a slug of whiskey. It was weird how being around kids stirred memories not only of his own lost son, but his father, who’d died when Colin was a teenager. Don’t argue with your mother. How many times had Colin heard that edict from behind the newspaper at the kitchen table, directed either at himself or Justin, who’d been a rambunctious hellion as a kid? When Dad bothered to lower the newspaper before making the pronouncement, you knew you were really on thin ice.

Was it strange to miss his parents after all this time? Colin’s mom had been dead now for more years of his life than she’d been alive. But it was easier to miss them than to allow himself to miss Natalie and Danny. That was a more recent wound, one that hadn’t healed properly. He could almost envision the jagged scar it had left inside him.

After the cover of darkness outside, being beneath the stable’s electric lights made him feel too exposed, as if Hannah would be able to glimpse into his memories. He cleared his throat, shifting focus on the horses that had begun to wander into stalls from the outside paddock.

“Guess they know it’s dinnertime,” he said. “How many horses are there?” There were a total of eight spacious stalls, and the stable was in better shape than either the main house or his current quarters. Whoever had owned the ranch before, decor hadn’t been his or her top priority.

“Four. Mavis here is the oldest,” she said, coming forward to stroke the nose of a sorrel mare. “She’s been on the ranch for seventeen years. I take her out for exercise, but when this place is up and running, I don’t plan to let guests ride her. There’s Tilly and Apples, both Tennessee walkers and good with people. Viper’s the black gelding. He’s a little sneaky, but doesn’t challenge confident riders.”

She showed Colin where the oats and feed buckets were. They hung them over the stall doors and snapped them into place. He noticed that the wood at Viper’s stall had been chewed.

“That may be an indication that he needs more roughage,” he commented. “Might want to give him more hay before he fills up on the oats.”

Evan was suitably quiet and restrained around the horses. Hannah had obviously taught him stable manners. Or he was intimidated by the thousand-pound beasts. He eyed them with a combination of adoration and apprehension.

“We have a donkey, too,” Evan informed Colin. “His name is Ninja.”

Hannah took her son’s hand and gently led him out of the stall where Colin was running a brush over Apples, getting to know the horse and checking her general condition. “I laughed the first time Michael told me donkeys were used to help protect the cattle against predators.” She bit her lip. “Michael was my husband.”

“The marine.” He met her gaze, understanding the relief he saw there. She was glad he already knew, sparing her any awkward explanations. “I heard about him in town.”

According to Colin’s waitress, Michael had been killed before his son was born. Hannah’s late husband had never seen Evan drag his green blanket across the dusty floor or heard his son ask when he would be big enough to ride a horse all by himself. At least I had two years with Danny before he was ripped away. But in some ways, wasn’t that worse? There were still nights Colin woke from dreams of the past with the sound of his toddler’s surprisingly deep belly laugh echoing in his ears.

“Last month, I watched Ninja circle up the cows with the youngest of the herd in the center,” Hannah continued. “I never got a look at what they were reacting to—”

“Coyotes, probably.”

She nodded. “The incident gave me a new appreciation for donkeys as unexpected heroes.”

There was that word again. She’d called him a hero earlier, and he’d bristled, resenting the implied expectations that came with such lofty praise. But if she was comfortable using the same terminology when describing a donkey, maybe Colin should relax and get over himself.

It was a radical thought.

While Hannah and Evan stepped outside to see if they could find the Big Dipper, Colin tried to recall the last time he’d been relaxed. In the weeks following his brother’s engagement Colin had figuratively held his breath, afraid that Justin—notorious for being unable to commit—would somehow screw up the best thing that had ever happened to him. Though Colin didn’t spend much time in Cielo Peak these days, the habit of worrying after his siblings was tough to break. He should have been at ease during his last few ranch jobs, doing work he enjoyed, but circumstances such as Delia McCoy’s unwanted interest had prevented that from happening.

Well, you won’t find contentment here. Not with Evan looking for opportunities to talk his ear off and the losing battle of trying to help Hannah turn the run-down house into a tourist destination. Yet even as Colin reminded himself of the reasons he wasn’t staying, he had to admit that right now, in this quiet stable, he was experiencing the closest thing to peace he’d felt in longer than he could remember. And he was in no hurry to give that up.

Chapter Five

“So you’re the fella lookin’ to replace me?” The grizzled man slammed his truck door, and Scarlett ran down the steps to greet him, woofing happily.

Colin set down the hammer and rose, deciding this must be Henry White. The man wore a battered straw cowboy hat that looked a lot like the one atop Colin’s own head. “Not sure what you heard, sir, but I’m not replacing anyone. Are you Henry White?”

“Yup.” The man’s demeanor was so territorial, Colin was surprised it had taken him until Saturday to come size up the perceived competition. “Been working this ranch since before you were born.”

As Colin understood it, that was part of the problem. But he had a lot of respect for what could be learned from previous generations. “I’m Colin Cade. Just passing through Bingham Pass and lending Hannah a hand while I’m here.”

The man nudged back the brim of his hat. “Lotta people seem eager to help Hannah. Gideon Loomis, for one.”

Was he trying to warn Colin away, let him know Hannah was spoken for? She deserves better. “Met Loomis. Wasn’t impressed.”

Henry’s craggy, sun-leathered face split into a grin. “Me, neither. His parents may run a successful operation, but their spoiled only child doesn’t have the sense God gave a goose.”

So Colin had passed a test of sorts. The approval was oddly satisfying, and he found himself returning the old-timer’s smile.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Hannah called from inside the house. “I—” She stepped onto the porch, then froze, gaping at Colin. She looked so feminine in the white lacy sundress, a dramatic contrast to her shining black hair, that it wouldn’t have been a hardship to stand there staring back at her. Over the past couple of days, he’d gotten used to seeing her in jeans and periodically dotted with flour or melted chocolate.

“Something wrong?” He glanced over his shoulder, trying to see if he’d overlooked a glaring mistake. None of the local stores carried the exact decorative spirals that were part of the porch railing, so after consulting the budget with Hannah yesterday morning, they’d decided to alternate. He’d found reasonably priced, complementary balusters and was installing the new ones in a pattern, salvaging as many of the former ones as possible. He was almost ready to paint.

“N-no. Nothing’s wrong. I just...You were smiling. I didn’t think that was possible,” she said under her breath.

The observation left him self-conscious. I smile. Occasionally.

“I see you’ve met Henry,” she said. “He’s going to watch Evan while Annette and I visit an estate sale I’ve had on my calendar. I’m really optimistic about finding some furniture for the bunkhouse!”

As far as he could tell, “really optimistic” was her default setting. But today her enthusiasm was contagious.

“Best of luck,” he said. He even threw in another smile for good measure.

She blinked, but then collected herself. Her dimples flashed in a mischievous smirk. “Warn me next time you’re going to do that so I can put on my sunglasses.”

He chuckled at that, the sound rusty even to his ears.

Then they were both distracted by Evan joining them on the porch. Hannah explained that the boy was in the middle of lunch and there was plenty of leftover spaghetti in the pot if Henry or Colin wanted some. Colin was always grateful when she brought him food outside, but so far he’d managed to avoid joining her and Evan for meals. Henry, however, had no such reservations about pulling up a chair at the kitchen table.

“I came hungry,” he said. “I know better than to eat before setting foot in your house. God knows I love Kitty, but her cooking can’t hold a candle to yours. Don’t ever tell her I said that,” he added, looking suddenly alarmed.

Hannah mimed crossing her heart. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Evan was bored with the discussion of spaghetti. As he threw his slim arms around Henry’s legs in a welcoming hug, he demanded, “Are we going fishing today?”

“That depends on how good you are and whether Henry feels up to it,” Hannah said sternly. “Don’t pester him about it. And if the two of you do go, you have to exit through the back door. This area will probably be covered with wet paint.”

He’d done a few boards in the garage last night so that they’d be dry and people could have a pathway through the front door, but he didn’t trust the four-year-old to stick to the path. After blowing his mother a kiss goodbye, Evan led Henry inside, talking a mile a minute about the size of the fish he was going to catch.

Hannah watched them go, laughing softly. “Our pond is stocked with trout, but to hear him talk, you’d think we had marlin in there. Henry is good with him—with any luck, you won’t even notice they’re here. But if you need anything, my cell number is on the fridge. So is Kitty’s. She and Henry live just down the road, so she can be here in a matter of minutes. A lot faster than me.”

Especially if Hannah ended up with a flat tire or some other roadside emergency. “You’re taking the truck?” he asked.

“It has a lot more cargo space than Annette’s car and pulls the trailer better. I figured it was best to plan for a big haul. Power of positive thinking and all that.”

He opened his mouth to comment, then thought better, shaking his head.

“What?” Her hazel eyes narrowed. “Were you about to make some snide comment about my truck?”

“About you. Not snide,” he backpedaled. “I was just wondering if this is something you were born with or a learned behavior—your sunny disposition, I mean. Does everyone in your family see the world in such a rose-colored view?”

She jerked her head away abruptly, reaching into her purse and pulling out the sunglasses she’d mentioned. When she turned to face him again, the dark-tinted frames obscured her expression. “I was an orphan, actually.”

They’d both lost their parents? The revelation of more common ground threw him for a loop. He and Hannah Shaw were polar opposites. He wouldn’t have guessed that their backgrounds shared many similarities.

“Your parents are dead?” he heard himself ask.

“I honestly have no idea. Never met them,” she said matter-of-factly. “I was abandoned as a newborn and grew up mostly in foster care. But to answer your question, the ‘sunny disposition’ was self-taught. I suppose I could moan and sulk my way through life, being bitter about anything that went wrong, but what kind of example would that be for my son?”

Her words had an edge to them. Because the topic was upsetting for her, or because she’d taken his question as criticism?

Or was she perhaps criticizing him? Colin may not have been flashing smiles left and right for the past three days, but he sure as hell wasn’t sulking.