Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
Tyler Buckham’s life in Texas—though he wasn’t sure you could call it a life lately—had become as dry as the Sonoran Desert. He liked the ranch he’d been working for some time now, and yet boredom and restlessness had both begun cropping up with increasing frequency. When he’d first noticed the signs setting in again, it never crossed his mind to turn to what he’d normally do: head out to another rodeo. Try for another prize. Find another buckle bunny to help fill a few empty hours.
That failure to go for what had always worked in the past proved just how stale his life had become.
As a last resort, he had given his notice and hit the road. Everybody needed a change of scenery once in a while. Running to something didn’t have to mean you were running from something else. Or so he told himself.
With an effort, he brought his focus back to the den where he now sat, and looked at the older man across the desk from him. He had met Jed Garland, the owner of the Hitching Post Hotel, last summer, when he’d come to Garland Ranch to stand up as best man when Jed’s granddaughter Tina married Tyler’s friend Cole.
Jed laced his hands across his middle. “Nice to have you back.”
“It’s nice to be back,” Tyler returned, though he felt uncomfortable saying it. He should have visited Cowboy Creek again long before this. Cole had invited him for Christmas, but he’d turned down the offer. Instead, he’d spent the holidays with his folks. Three months later, he was still kicking himself over that mistake.
“Cole will be pleased to see you when he gets home,” Jed told him. “I’ll need to have a talk with that boy, though—he didn’t so much as hint about you coming for a visit.”
“He didn’t know I was headed this way. Stopping by was a spur-of-the-moment idea.”
It was worse than that.
What would Cole and Jed and the rest of the Garlands think if they knew just how close he’d come to passing right by? Though he’d headed to New Mexico deliberately to put Texas behind him, he’d been on the fence about whether or not to visit Garland Ranch.
Fate had taken a hand, pushing him off the highway at the Cowboy Creek town limits. The gas gauge on the pickup had nose-dived, and he’d had to top up the tank. If he could have made it through to the next town, he might have left the hotel and dude ranch behind him in a cloud of road dust.
Instead, he’d given the truck its head the way he did his stallion. Like Freedom, the truck seemed to know exactly where it wanted to go. By the time he’d pulled into the parking area behind the Hitching Post, he had begun to wonder if fate had had this trip in store for him all along.
“Well,” Jed said, “when an idea spurs you on, that’s usually a good sign you should get moving on it.”
“Yeah. And here I am.” He glanced over at the Stetson he had tossed onto one of the small couches in the office. “But speaking of moving, I guess I’ll hit the road again since Cole’s not around.”
“What’s your hurry? He’ll be back in a couple of days.”
Tyler looked at Jed. The man was past seventy, but those clear blue eyes, topped by pure white eyebrows, wouldn’t miss much. At Jed’s scrutiny, he broke eye contact, using the excuse of grabbing his Stetson.
“It’s almost time for lunch,” Jed went on. “Why not stay to eat with us? Then you might as well stick around here till Cole gets home. We’ve got plenty of room in the hotel for you, and a stall out in the barn just standing empty waiting for your mount.”
“I don’t—”
“You know Tina and I will be glad for the visit with you,” Jed went on, as if he hadn’t heard Tyler. “And I know you’re not planning on running off without seeing Paz.”
The mention of Tina’s grandmother, the hotel’s cook, brought back some great memories. He smiled. “She sure took good care of me when I was here for Cole and Tina’s wedding.”
Jed smiled broadly. “Feeding people is what she does best. We don’t like seeing anyone going hungry here. And we’re not fond of empty spaces at the table. We’ll be happy to have you sitting in for Cole and staying with us for a while.”
“I don’t—”
“You won’t be the only guest at the table today,” Jed broke in again. “Shay’s joining us for lunch, too.”
“Shay?” Tyler’s pulse revved up a notch.
“Yeah, Shay O’Neill. You met her at the wedding last summer, remember?”
How could he forget? “Yeah, I remember Shay.” Understatement of the century. The mention of her name brought to mind a handful of other good memories.
“So, that’s decided.” Jed rose from his chair. “C’mon out to the front desk and we’ll find you a room. You haven’t got much time to settle in before we eat. Just a word of advice, though. I’d do my best to show up in the dining room as soon as possible, or you might get done out of something special.”
Yeah, something special like sitting next to Shay O’Neill.
As he followed Jed down the hall to the hotel lobby, his thoughts stayed with Shay. Shay, who was as sweet as the ice cream she sold at the Big Dipper in town. And who was way hotter than any other woman he’d ever seen.
Shay was another reason he should have come back to Cowboy Creek before now. They had had a good time in the few days he had stayed there last summer. No reason they couldn’t have just as good a time while he was here now. Lucky for him, that brief visit had included a night in her bed. He looked forward to having that pleasure again.
Above all, Shay was guaranteed to make him forget his troubles for a while. He needed that kind of forgetting more than he’d realized until this very moment.
* * *
ONCE HE’D SETTLED Freedom in his stall, Tyler made quick work of hauling his duffel bag from the back of the pickup truck to the room Jed had assigned him. Minutes after tossing the bag onto the king-size bed, he was downstairs again and on his way to the dining room.
From up ahead, he could hear more than one conversation going, a child’s shriek and, in a sudden beat of silence, a woman’s familiar laugh. That last sound made him both hard and hungry, but not for anything the Hitching Post might serve for lunch.
The dining room was crowded with Garland family members and hotel guests, yet the instant he paused in the doorway, he spotted Shay. She sat on the far side of the long center table reserved for the Garlands, half turned away from him as she talked with one of Jed’s granddaughters. He recognized the straight, wheat-blond hair that fell below her shoulders and felt like silk against his fingers. He knew when she looked his way he would see eyes one shade lighter than her green sweater. Her cheeks held a natural pink tint. Her lips curved in a soft smile.
Just