Kissed by a Cowboy (2 page)

His mother, his friends—heck, the whole town
had stars in their eyes.

"I don't think they get it," she said softly,
her words a puff of warmth against his neck. "Only like one percent
of all college players get drafted to the NFL."

She peered up at him, biting her lip again
like maybe she shouldn't have said that.

"You're a football fan?"

"Not really. My dad."

He was having a hard time
concentrating on talking. He didn't want to think about all
those
expectations
.
Not right now.

She said softly, "It's a lot of hard
work."

Looking down on her, he thought about the
kind of work it would take to get to know someone like Haley. She
wasn't the typical girl, falling all over herself to get him to
like her. She was...real, somehow.

"I'm not afraid of hard work."

He saw goosebumps rise along the slope of her
shoulders, felt her shiver through his hands at her waist.

"Do you have a backup plan?" she asked. "In
case the football thing doesn't pan out?"

Here was another reason to like Haley. Her
smarts. Once, he'd overheard her coaching Katie before a big test.
Now that he knew she had moved from school to school, it was even
more impressive that she could keep up with the assigned work.

He pulled her to his chest, and her face
tipped up to his.

He thought he should probably kiss her.

When their lips were only an inch apart, she
leaned back. "I don't want you to kiss me, just because Katie
forced you to be my date."

And that's the moment he fell a little bit in
love with Haley Carston.

"All right."

And he bent his head to kiss her anyway.

Chapter One

Present day.

Haley Carston walked out of the bank and into
the mid-June day. Summer was coming to western Oklahoma, and she
knew better than to expect this mild weather to last.

She clutched the manila folder in one hand.
The power of attorney for her aunt was a sign that everything was
changing—and Haley didn't want it to. But she didn't get a choice.
Life was like that sometimes—which she knew better than anyone.

The gilded glass door locked behind her with
a decisive click. Haley had been the last customer of the day, and
her business had taken longer than she'd wanted. No doubt the bank
employees were in a rush to get home.

It shouldn't have taken nearly so long, but
several of the employees had wandered into the bank manager's
office to greet her like the old friend that she wasn't.

She'd only been back in
Redbud Trails, Oklahoma, for a week, but the small town seemed to
have a long memory. Everyone remembered her as
Katie Michaels' tag-along,
even though
it had been over a decade since she'd left for college and stayed
in Oklahoma City. She'd already lost count of the times she'd heard
someone say,
"You used to run around with
the Michaels girl."

She squinted in the afternoon sunlight. Her
memories of Katie were like a giant fist squeezing her insides and
twisting. Haley had worked hard during college to shed the
perpetual shyness that had followed her to the state university.
But she'd never forgotten her best friend. Katie was a light that
had shone too brightly—and burned out too quickly.

Just like Aunt Matilda. Haley's aunt had been
diagnosed with inoperable cancer and wouldn't last the summer. One
thing Haley had learned from growing up the way she had was you
didn't get that time back. Her boss had granted her a leave of
absence, and she arrived in Redbud Trails the next day.

Aunt Matilda needed her. And her aunt had
been there for Haley through the dark days after Paul had walked
away. Haley would stay by her aunt's side until the end.

Even if it was hard.

She paused to take a breath and admire the
picturesque square in front of the bank. It had always been her
favorite place in this own. Just as she was turning away, a small
voice cried out, "Wait!"

A young girl rode up on a bicycle, dark
pigtails flying out behind her, red-faced and huffing, her forehead
slick with sweat. She hopped off the bike before it had even
stopped rolling. She didn't even glance at Haley but ran up to the
glass door and banged on it. Her purple backpack bounced with the
force of her whacking.

"Please—" the girl gasped. She sounded near
tears.

And the bank was most definitely closed.

"Honey," Haley said, "I don't think they're
going to open for you."

The girl just banged harder. Stubborn.

"They c-can't be closed. I need to talk to a
loan officer. I have to show them!"

What was the girl so upset
about? Haley looked for a parent, figuring that
someone
must be responsible for her.
The girl looked about ten, but that was still too young to be in
town, alone.

But no one was around.

"Hey." Haley approached the girl and put her
hand on her shoulder.

The insistent banging finally stopped. The
girl's head and shoulders drooped. She sniffled and rubbed a hand
beneath her eyes, still looking down.

"Can I help you, hon?" Haley asked.

The little girl looked up, giving Haley her
first good look at the turned-up tip of her nose, splash of
freckles, and blue eyes. Her heart nearly stopped. The girl was a
near-carbon copy of Katie. Down to the thick, curling eyelashes
that Haley had been so jealous of back then.

She might've been the image of her mother,
but the hesitant wariness in her gaze was all her Uncle Maddox.
Haley's insides dipped at the single thought of the man she hadn't
seen in over a decade.

"You're Livy, right? Livy Michaels?" Haley
asked. "I'm Haley Carston."

The girl didn't react to Haley's name. Haley
had rarely visited Redbud Trails after she'd entered college. Aunt
Matilda had mostly opted to come down to the city. And Haley
doubted Livy's uncle had ever mentioned her.

"Nobody calls me that," the girl said,
pulling away and crossing her arms.

"Oh. Sorry. Olivia." Haley smiled, trying to
show that she was a friend. She'd heard Katie call her the nickname
once, right after Olivia had been born. Maybe the pet name hadn't
stuck. Because Katie hadn't been around to use it.

"You look like your mother."

The softly-spoken statement did not gain
Haley any points with Olivia, who watched her with
slightly-narrowed eyes.

And there was still no parental figure in
sight. "Is your uncle...?"

Olivia's expression changed to
slightly-chagrined. "Um... I told Uncle Justin I was riding my
bike."

To town?
Haley's suspicions rose. She knew Maddox's mother had passed
and had heard Maddox had custody of the little girl. Maybe Justin
was watching her this afternoon.

"I really need to talk to a banker," Olivia
said again, voice gone tiny. "It's important."

No one had even come to the door to see what
all the banging was about. If Haley had to guess, the bank tellers
and manager might've already left by a back exit.

"I don't think that's going to happen
tonight. What about your uncle?"

Olivia looked away. "He's...um...he's on his
way."

A likely story. "Can I give you a ride
somewhere? Or walk with you...?"

Olivia's face scrunched. "I'm not supposed to
ride with people I don't know."

Haley bit the inside of her lip, thinking.
She couldn't just leave an eleven-year-old alone here, not knowing
when one of Olivia's uncles might appear.

"Hmm. Well, you might not know me, but you
probably know my aunt. Matilda Patterson."

The girl's face brightened. "Everyone knows
Mrs. Matilda."

It was so bittersweet. Not many knew about
her aunt's illness, and Haley's voice was soft when she answered
the girl. "I know Aunt Matilda would love to see you. We can call
your uncle and make sure it's all right. He can pick you up
there."

The tip of Olivia's ears went pink. She
turned her face to the ground.

Haley hated to be the bad guy but, "He's
probably worried sick. I assume he has a cell phone...?" She fished
her phone out of her purse and waited for Olivia to give her the
number.

"Honey?"

Finally, Olivia rattled off a number, but
when a gruff male voice answered with a curt, "Yeah?" Haley's heart
pounded in her throat and ears.

The man on the line wasn't Justin.

It was Maddox.

"M-Maddox?" Oh, Haley hated the stutter that
slipped into her voice.

There was a pause. Then a gruff, "Who is
this?"

Looking up with an expression so like her
mother's, Olivia's lower lip stuck out the slightest bit, her eyes
pleading for Haley's understanding. Or help. How many times had
Katie used that very look on Haley?

And apparently, it still worked.

Haley forced a polite, cheerful note into her
voice, the same note she reserved for her coworkers back in
Oklahoma City. "This is Haley Carston."

She didn't exactly expect a
warm welcome, maybe more of a
what do you
want,
given how they'd left things, but he
was completely silent. She could hear the rumble of an engine,
muffled like he was in the cab of a truck. Maybe he really was on
his way.

"I'm in town for awhile, and I ran into your
niece outside the Redbud Trails Bank. I wanted to see if she could
come over to Aunt Matilda's with me until you or Justin can come
pick her up."

"She's in town? Alone?" he barked. And she
recognized the worry beneath the gruffness.

Olivia watched, clutching her hands together
in front of her.

"Mmhmm," Haley said, her tone unnaturally
bright.

He muttered under his breath. She thought it
might've been something derogatory toward his brother, but she
couldn't be sure.

"Justin can't drive," he said. "And I'm on my
way home, but I'm probably an hour out of town."

"Well, Aunt Matilda and I would love to have
Olivia over," Haley said.

He hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

#

Maddox
Michaels stood on the porch of the little Patterson cottage and
braced his hand on the doorframe, letting his head hang
low.

One of the large dining room windows was open
a few inches, and he could hear Olivia chattering from somewhere in
the house. Relief swamped him. She was okay.

He was going to kill his
brother. Justin was supposed to have been
watching
her.

It was probably an act of mercy that Haley
had found his niece. Maddox was working for a custom harvester,
trading shifts with another guy who had a new baby at home. The
crew would travel all summer, running combines and a grain cart.
Dave needed the extra income but didn't want to miss time with his
new baby, and with Justin incapacitated, Maddox needed to be home
more, too. Right now, they were working in southern Oklahoma, but
they would also travel up through Kansas and Colorado and who knew
where else. Maddox didn't like the travel, but he needed the money,
and splitting the time on the crew seemed to be working for both of
them.

Until now.

Coming face-to-face with Haley was the last
thing he wanted to do when he was feeling exhausted and beat-down.
How in the world had Olivia gotten to town?

In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of
the dusty pink bike leaning against the front of the truck parked
beneath the carport, and the muscles in his neck and shoulders
tightened. His hand slipped down the doorframe.

No. Olivia wouldn't have ridden her bike into
town alone. It was three and a quarter miles to the bank.

Justin was a dead man.

The door opened before he was ready, and he
looked up. Slowly. His Stetson moved with his head, revealing her
inch-by-inch.

But it didn't soften the blow of seeing
her.

Her feet were bare beneath hip-hugging jeans,
and she wore some kind of soft, flowy blouse. Her auburn hair was
shorter, curling around her face.

And her brown eyes were as soft as he
remembered.

She reached out and touched his forearm, and
that's when he realized he'd leaned his palm against the doorbell.
The buzzer had been sounding consistently. Annoyingly.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," she said. "Hi."

"Hi."

She was the same as she had been. That smile.
Half shy and half knowing, and his gut twisted like he was nineteen
again.

"You look good," she said softly.

He knew what he looked like. Older. Worry
creases around his eyes. Covered in dust and wrinkled, like he'd
slept in his truck. Which he had.

"You too." It was such an
inane comment, and
good
didn't even come close to describing her. He needed to get out
of here before he made more of a fool of himself.

"Can you send Olivia out? Is she okay?"

Haley's expression softened. "She's amazing.
She's helping me cook supper. C'mon in."

He shouldn't. She must've seen his
hesitation, because she paused on the threshold. "If you want to
stay, Matilda and I would love to have you for supper. Either way,
there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

He nodded. He swung his tired body into
motion and stepped inside. Ahead and off to the left was the
quaint, antiquey living room.

"Are you limping?" she asked.

He took off his hat, ran a hand through his
brown curls, damp from sweating beneath the hat brim. The A/C on
his pickup wasn't the best, but there was no money to fix it right
now.

"Just tired. I've been out of town." His
joints had gotten stiff sitting in his truck for hours. "I've
picked up a job working with a harvest crew."