Her Texas Hero (5 page)

Carter's frown deepened. “That's not gonna be an issue. She's got it in her pretty little head to do most of the repairs herself.”

“Pretty, huh?”

Carter groaned. “Did you hear what I just said? She's gonna try and fix that old house up all by herself.”

“Heard that,” his brother replied. “But it's the
pretty
part I'm latching on to. That's gotta be the first female in a long while you've taken notice of.”

“Hard not to notice her when I had to rescue her from a roof.”

“You what?”

With a sigh, he went on to explain what he'd stumbled upon the previous afternoon. “She's in over her head.”

“And you're gonna come to her rescue again?” his brother said, studying him closely.

“I'd do the same if it were an old woman,” Carter said, feeling the need to defend himself. But he doubted an older woman would have plagued his thoughts the way Audra Marshall and her children had since he'd left their place. “So about that door...”

Nathan motioned toward the pole barn. “Have at it. Just watch you're not the one who ends up in over your head. And I'm not referring to the renovations to her house.”

“No worry there,” Carter called back over his shoulder as he started for the entry door to the pole barn. “I like my life just the way it is.” No family of his own to worry about losing far too soon, like Nathan had. He'd seen what his brother went through, was still going through, and he never wanted to stand in his shoes. So while he dated on occasion, he made sure the women he went out with knew he wasn't looking for a long-term relationship. Just someone to grab dinner with or see a movie.

Nothing more.

* * *

“What in the world?” For the second time in two days, Carter found himself barreling up Audra Marshall's driveway in his truck.

Lodged within the frame of the open front door was what looked to be a box spring. Behind it, attempting to push it into the house, were Audra and her young son. Lily stood off to the side, happily cheering them on.

Carter threw the truck into Park and leaped out.

“It's the Lone Ranger!” Lily exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

Audra paused to look back over her shoulder. “Mr. Cooper,” she greeted between the labored pants of her determined efforts.

“Looks like I got here just in time,” he said as he stepped up onto the porch.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded as she reached up to push a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail away from her face. She looked oddly adorable in her rumpled, oversize #1 MOM T-shirt that practically swallowed up her petite form, knee-length leggings and hot-pink tennis shoes. Not that he ought to be noticing those things.

“I came to do my Christian duty,” he said, reaching past her to grab hold of the box spring.

“We don't—”

“Need my help?” he said, arching a challenging brow.

She bit at her bottom lip.

“Now that we got that settled, let's get this thing through the doorway.”

“It won't fit,” Lily told him.

“Sure it will, little darlin', but not at this angle.” He looked to Audra. “I'll need to shift it slightly and then we should be able to ease it through.” His gaze focused on Mason. “I'll need your help with this, big guy. Think you could crawl in through that gap at the floor and tell us how much farther we need to push the box spring to get it all the way inside?”

“I can do that!” he replied.

“I'm not so sure that's a good idea,” Audra said with a worried frown.

“Trust me,” Carter told her. “This box spring isn't going anywhere the way it's sitting right now.”

She eyed the gap between the door frame and the bottom portion of the box spring and then looked to her son. “Watch you don't bump your head going through there.”

“I will,” her little boy replied. A second later, he was scooting through the narrow hole.

Carter kept a firm hold on the box spring until Mason had cleared the doorway. Then he adjusted the box spring with an ease neither Audra nor her children could have managed. “It's best he stay out of the way while I take this through,” he whispered for her ears only.

She looked up at him, understanding dawning. “I appreciate your taking my son's well-being into consideration,” she whispered back, her voice catching slightly.

“How are we looking on your side, Mason?” he called out to her son.

“All clear!”

“Okay, coming through.” With a powerful nudge of his shoulder, he worked the box spring in through the open door. Then he managed, with some maneuvering and a little help from Audra, to get it upstairs to her room. He did the same with the mattress. Then he turned to the kids. “Time to bring your beds up.”

“They're already up here,” Lily said.

He looked to Audra, who nodded. “You got them upstairs by yourself?”

She smiled. “They're only twin-size and Mason helped.”

“I did, too, Mommy,” Lily whined.

“Yes, she did, too,” her mother quickly amended. “Lily carried up their pillows.”

“I see,” Carter said with a nod. “My next question is, why didn't the movers carry your things inside for you?”

“I didn't hire movers,” she admitted. “I just hired a company to store our things and then deliver them to the house the day after we got here. We're supposed to unload everything and they'll send someone to pick up their storage pods in two days.”

Reaching up, he dragged a sleeve across his damp brow. “Two days?”

She nodded.

“Then you're gonna need help moving your things in before the rain gets here.”

“Rain?” she gasped.

“It's expected to hit tomorrow afternoon,” he told her. “And according to the local weather station it's gonna be hanging around a spell.”

“I'll just have to work faster getting things inside,” she said determinedly, her response not surprising him one bit.

“Darlin', there's a time for holding on firm to our pride and there's a time for swallowing it,” he told her as he pulled his cell phone from the front pocket of his jeans and punched in Nathan's number.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her gaze dropping to the phone in his hand.

His mouth pulled up into a grin as he replied, “Calling for backup.”

Chapter Four

C
alling for backup
?
What did he think he was doing? “Carter,” she said, trying to get his attention.

He motioned for her to give him a second and then said into the phone as he walked away from the porch, “Remember that little prank you and Logan pulled on me the other day...”

“Mommy,” Lily said, tugging at the bottom of Audra's T-shirt, “are we done?”

If only. There was so much to do before the rain came in. The cardboard boxes she'd packed things into had to be taken inside. If they sat out in the yard, they'd be nothing but mush, because the storage containers would be leaving. “You can take a little break if you'd like,” she said, her gaze still fixed on Carter Cooper's broad shoulders as he stood in her yard, talking away on his cell phone.

“Can we go explore?” Mason asked.

Audra looked down at her son, nodding. “Don't go far and stay away from the pond.”

“Okay,” her children replied before leaping off the porch.

She watched them go with a wistful smile. The Lord had blessed her with two wonderful children. Both loving and happy despite the past hurts they'd suffered. They deserved time to play and have fun like other children. “Keep an eye on your sister!” she called after her son.

“I will!” Mason hollered back before he and Lily disappeared around the side of the house.

Her attention shifted back to Carter Cooper to find him shoving his cell phone into the front pocket of his jeans. With a smile that made her wonder what he was up to, he walked back to where she stood waiting.

“Help is on the way.”

“Mr. Cooper,” she said in frustration.

“Carter,” he said. “Mr. Cooper was my daddy.”

“Fine. Carter,” she began again with a worried frown. “I don't want to impose on you or anyone else.”

“It's called helping a neighbor,” he replied. “We tend to do a lot of that in these parts. Besides, my brothers owe me for the black eyes I was forced to walk around with yesterday. As far as I'm concerned, they're getting off easy.”

It was clear he was determined to do this. How could she refuse? He'd come to her rescue, not once but twice. If Carter wanted to teach his brothers a lesson by having them help move her things into the house, then she owed it to him to let them do so. “Only if they're willing to help,” she conceded.

“Oh, they're willing,” he replied before turning to make his way over to one of the open storage containers. “Reckon we best get started.”

We.
How long had it been since another adult included her in something? As if they were a team. Had Bradford ever used the term
we
? No. He was more likely to say “I” or “me.” Realizing that she was dwelling on a past she'd just as soon forget, Audra pushed away all thoughts of her ex and joined Carter inside one of the storage containers.

He glanced her way with a grin. “Impressive organization.”

He was referring to the notes she'd made on the outside of each box, which included room placement and a list of the items inside. Warmth filled her cheeks. “Old habits die hard.”

He chuckled. “You say that like it's a bad thing to be organized.”

“It can be,” she admitted as she reached for one of the smaller boxes that contained pantry items. Her ex-husband had complained that she wasn't more go-with-the-flow. That everything she did was too scheduled and regimented. But she had to be. How else would she have kept up with the dance classes Bradford had insisted Lily be enrolled in. Or the T-ball and youth soccer teams that Mason had joined.

“I'm not so sure my older brother would agree with that statement,” he said with a chuckle. “He's always getting on me about my need to be more organized. Must be a skill people with children acquire, because my younger brother, Logan, is almost as bad as me when it comes to that sort of thing.”

She nodded with a smile. “It must be.”

“What would you like me to bring in first?”

“The box with the sheets and blankets in it,” she said, pointing to a cardboard box near the bottom of one of the stacks.

“Sheets and blankets it is.” He removed two boxes that were on top of the bedding box and then lifted it, along with the box below it, also marked bedroom, into his muscular arms.

Audra followed him inside. “You can place those on the floor in the first bedroom. I'll run this box into the kitchen.”

He did so without hesitation, moving up the steps as if the boxes he carried weighed nothing at all. Then again, the man was a veritable giant.

She sat the box she'd carried inside onto the floor by the pantry door. She would have to wait to unpack their dry goods until she'd had a chance to paint inside the shelf-lined closet. Hopefully, in the next day or so.

By the time she returned to the entryway, Carter was already outside and moving toward the open storage container. She hurried to catch up to him. “Carter...”

He slowed his step, glancing over at her from beneath the brim of his hat. “Darlin'?”

Darlin'.
Why did he have to call her that? It added a touch of intimacy to their relationship that didn't belong. They were strangers. He knew nothing about her. Well, beyond the fact that she was divorced and a poor judge of men. And while she was at it, she might as well toss poor judge of houses into the mix.

“Why are you doing this?” she demanded uneasily. Guilt nagged at her for taking up his valuable time even though she hadn't asked it of him. Did he think his lending a hand would convince her to hire him on?

He smiled. An adorably crooked grin that made her stomach flutter ever so slightly. “Because sometimes folks, myself included, need a little help and are too proud to ask for it.”

She looked past him, focusing on the moving bins. It wasn't pride that kept her from asking. It was experience. Asking her ex for something had rarely gotten her anywhere. She'd eventually learned that if she wanted something done, she needed to do it herself. Even if in doing so she sometimes found herself completely out of her realm of comfort and, as of more recently, her ability.

“I...” Her denial that she needed his help died on her lips as she glanced toward the boxes and large pieces of furniture filling the open containers. There was no getting around it, she thought with a frown. She needed help.

“Audra,” he said with a sigh, the sound of her name on his lips drawing her gaze upward. “Let me do this for you. Not for money. Not for any of the reasons I have a feeling you're tossing around in your head. But because...well, I'm the Lone Ranger,” he said. “And the Lone Ranger would never leave a female in need.” Then, as if his crazy explanation made all the difference, he strode off to the moving container.

Unable to help herself, she smiled, calling out, “So, if you're the Lone Ranger, where's your sidekick?” The question had no sooner left her lips when two pickup trucks turned up her drive.

Carter's head popped out around the open door and a grin spread across his face. “Looks like my sidekicks have arrived.”

She stood watching as the trucks came to a stop in a single line behind Carter's. A second later, two very large men in cowboy hats stepped out of them. The taller and leaner of the two she recognized from Big Dog's. Logan Cooper. The other man, who had the same broad shoulders as Carter, had to be their older brother, Nathan. He walked around to the other side of his truck and swung open the passenger door. Tiny legs appeared beneath the door as the truck's other occupant climbed down. A second later, a little girl with a head full of long, dark curls appeared.

“Uncle Carter!” she called out excitedly the moment she spotted him standing at the entrance of the oversize moving container.

“Katydid!” He stepped down and started across the yard to greet her.

The little girl raced toward him with a pronounced limp, leaving the two men behind. She launched herself into Carter's outstretched arms. The love she had for her uncle was clearly returned, judging by the tenderness that came over his face as he held her.

Audra crossed the yard to stand next to them. “Hello,” she said to Katie as Carter set her back on her feet.

“Hello,” the little girl replied, with a smile that very much resembled Audra's son's with her two missing bottom teeth.

“Katie, I'd like you to meet Ms. Marshall. She just moved here to Braxton.”

“Is my daddy gonna fix your house?” she asked as she stood staring up at the old farmhouse.

It was pretty bad when a child of maybe five or six years old could tell a house was in desperate need of repair. “I'm hoping to fix it up myself.”

Curious dark eyes lifted to study Audra. “Do you have a hammer? 'Cause I have one you can borrow. It's pink.”

Audra laughed softly. “That's very kind of you, Katie. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Heard there was a need for some
real
muscle here,” Carter's younger brother, Logan, said with a grin as he and Nathan joined them in the yard.

Carter let out a husky chuckle. “You heard right. And since the ladies' knitting club was already committed elsewhere, I called you two. Next best thing, I reckon.”

Audra couldn't help but smile as she listened to their playful banter. An only child, she'd missed out on this sort of playful camaraderie with a sibling.

Nathan Cooper looked her way with a polite nod. “Ma'am.”

“Ms. Marshall,” Logan greeted with a tip of his hat.

“Reckon some introductions are needed. Audra, this is my brother Nathan.”

Her smile widened. “It's nice to meet you.”

He nodded. “Likewise.”

“And I believe you've already met our little brother, Logan,” Carter continued, motioning toward the youngest Cooper.

“Who tops you by a good two inches,” Logan quickly pointed out.

“That he does,” Nathan agreed with a nod.

“At 6'4” there are very few men he doesn't look down to,” Carter said with a glance Logan's direction.

He was definitely tall. They were all tall, for that matter. So much so, Audra had to crane her neck to look up at them. Smiling at Logan, she said, “Nice to see you again.”

“Same here. Reckon we'll be seeing a whole lot more of each other seeing as how you're gonna be living in Braxton.”

“Daddy,” Katie said, tugging at Nathan's hand. “Where are the kids Uncle Carter said I could play with?”

“They're around back,” Carter replied. Then his gaze lifted to Audra. “I hope you don't mind. I figured we'd have enough manpower for the move that the kids would be able to play and get to know each other.”

Katie turned pleading eyes in Audra's direction. “Can I play with them? Please...”

How could she refuse that sweet little face? Her children would welcome the opportunity to make a new friend. “Mason and Lily will love having a new playmate. Why don't I walk you around back and introduce you to them?”

Katie looked to her father. “Can I, Daddy?”

“Go on, cupcake,” Nathan said with a warm smile, giving his daughter's curls a playful tousle. “Have fun.”

“I will!” she said excitedly before turning to slip her hand into Audra's.

“I won't be long,” Audra told them as she led Katie away in search of Mason and Lily.

“In the meantime,” Carter called out to her, “my
sidekicks
and I will start unloading the furniture.”

“Sidekicks?” she heard his brothers repeat in unison.

Audra muffled a giggle. Carter Cooper was a very silly man. A quality she found surprisingly endearing. “Mason and Lily are going to be so excited to meet you,” she told Katie, forcing her thoughts away from her very distracting uncle. “Your uncle Carter tells me you're really good at throwing a Frisbee.”

“I am,” she said with pride.

As they rounded the back of the house, they came upon Audra's children, who were kicking a ball back and forth across the yard, which was clearly in need of a thorough mowing. Another thing to add to the rapidly growing “things to buy” list—an easily workable lawn mower.

“Kids, come meet Katie Cooper.”

They stopped what they were doing to look her way. Then, a second later, ball abandoned, her children raced toward them.

Mason reached them first, his gaze fixed on their unexpected guest. “Are you Katydid?”

“Sure am,” she replied with a nod.

“Hello,” Lily said, moving past her brother. “Want to play kick the ball with us?”

Seeing her daughter's face fill with excitement at having a new friend made Audra's heart warm. Moving to Texas had meant saying goodbye to their friends in Chicago. Katie Cooper could help ease their transition to their new life there in Braxton.

“I can't.”

Audra's gaze shifted to Katie, whose brilliant smile had suddenly withered. “Sure you can,” she assured her.

“We could teach you how to play,” Mason volunteered enthusiastically.

The little girl's smile sagged even further. “My daddy said I can't kick things or jump a lot because my leg is still healing.”

Now it was Audra's turn to frown. She had seen Katie limping. She should have considered that playing ball might not be a good idea. She knelt down in front of Katie and forced a smile, pushing aside the guilt she felt at her unintentional thoughtlessness. “Then by all means you shouldn't be playing kickball right now. Maybe someday soon.”

“Maybe so.” She sighed.

“What happened to your leg, sweetie?”

“The house crushed it.”

Her children's eyes widened at Katie's unexpected response.

Audra looked at her in confusion. “The house?”

“Like when the house landed on the witch in Oz?” Mason gasped.

Katie appeared to mull her son's question over, before replying, “Reckon so. Only it wasn't Dorothy's house that landed on me and my mommy. It was my Grammy and Pappy's house.”