Once Upon a Cowboy (10 page)

“If you had, you’d probably never have wanted to get out.”

“Can you swim in it?” The pool stretched for thirty feet or so,
end to end, but she couldn’t tell how deep it was.

“Why?” He winked. “Do you want to?”

Hmm. Get naked in a hot spring with the most gorgeous man on earth? In the middle of a moonlit wilderness so beautiful it almost hurt to look at it?

She cleared her throat carefully. “Maybe sometime when I have an actual swimsuit on. I’ve gone through two outfits today already.”

“Clothing would be optional.”
He winked, and her entire body responded.

Dammit.

“Do you—ever show this to the guests?” She fought to regain control over this feeling of—
desire
that threatened to make her do something stupid.

Cole shook his head. “No. Some things we like to keep to ourselves. Decker and I found this way back when we were kids. You’d have thought we’d discovered Mars or something, the way we came flying back
to the house to tell Ma. She let us think we’d discovered it until we were teenagers, I think. Finally she fessed up that she’d come galloping through the same hills at our age, just dying to tell someone she’d found Heaven.”

Jess looked around, breathing in the piney air, feeling the spray of the waterfall land softly on her face. “I can’t believe you and Decker got to grow up practically on
horseback, roaming these mountains and meadows.”

“Well, there was an awful lot of hard work that went with the galloping, but yeah. It’s pretty much paradise out here.” His face got serious. “Well, it was. For a while, anyway.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound like everything was perfect. I know it—wasn’t.” Jess’s stomach tightened as she thought about Cole’s father, about his penchant
for whisky and women, in that order. About how he’d stuck Decker in a rattletrap Chevy and pointed him off the ranch after their little sister had drowned. About how Cole and Ma had just about had to sell their own hides to fend off the bank when they realized he’d put up the ranch as collateral on a high-roller weekend in Vegas, then run his truck into a tree at ninety miles an hour, looking
to leave it all behind.

“I know you didn’t.” Cole took off his hat and spun it thoughtfully. “What about you? You’ve been coming out here for two years, and I don’t think I even know where you grew up.”

“Oh, my growing-up years were hardly as exciting as yours. You’d be bored.” Her stomach flipped at his question. No way was she going down that road tonight. She’d been enjoying a few minutes
of
not
thinking about that road.

“Doubt it. I’m curious, really. I can hear a trace of a southern accent when you talk. Are you a Mississippi girl at heart?”

“South Carolina. Just outside of Charleston.”
On the way wrong side of the tracks. 37 Breezy Meadow Trailer Park, to be precise.

Cole looked at her, waiting for more, but she couldn’t find the words she usually used when she got this question.
Over the years she’d developed a pat answer that glossed over details and managed to shut down further lines of questioning in one fell swoop. The key was delivering it with that sweet southern smile she’d seen her mother use for all those years.

But for some reason, she wasn’t able to call up her standard phrases, wasn’t able to summon up that hide-everything smile and give him the answers that
had kept everybody fooled for thirteen years and counting.

Saying them to Cole felt like—lying.

He waited for one more beat, then seemed to realize she wasn’t going to elaborate. “Okay, let me guess.” He cocked his head, appraising her comically. “You grew up in one of those plantation houses with more rooms than people, and lawns the size of football stadiums. You play a normal girl, but actually
you’re a cotton magnate?”

Jess sputtered a laugh, shaking her head.
Oh, lordy, if he only knew how wrong he was.

“No? Okay, no plantation house. Does that mean no servants? Because I can definitely see servants in your past.”

She laughed again. “No servants, no.”

“But horses, definitely. You ride like you’ve been doing it forever. So a horse farm. Huge racehorse–training facility breeding
Derby champions?”

“Nope. Rode in college. Just had a good teacher.”

“You’re a mystery, Jess.”

“I’m just a regular gal, Cole. Grew up in a regular town in a regular house with regular people. I wish I had a more interesting story, but there it is.”

Right.

“There’s nothing
regular
about you, hon.” He paused for a moment, then reached up a hand to touch her jaw, startling her. She backed up
quickly, almost tripping.

He pulled away quickly, surprise in his eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry. You—surprised me.”

She cursed internally as concern creased his forehead. Would she ever,
ever
be able to see a man’s hand coming toward her face and not duck?

Cole studied her for a long moment, then reached out his hand toward hers, but didn’t touch her. She watched his
hand—strong, calloused, warm—and longed to hide hers inside it, just for a little while.

His voice was soft when he finally spoke.

“What happened to you, Jess?”

“You ever heard Jess talk about her past?” The next morning, Cole tightened the girth on Moon Gypsy’s saddle and pulled down the stirrups. He and Decker were getting the horses ready for this morning’s adult trail ride, but he was having a hard time focusing on the job at hand, given the fact that he’d been up half the night trying to figure out why his almost-touch last night had turned
Jess all deer-in-the-headlights.

He’d
also
been trying to figure out what had possessed him to seek her out at midnight and take her to one of the most magical places on the ranch, but right now that concern was taking second place.

“Not really, no.” Decker draped Chance’s reins over the top rail of the corral, then turned his attention on Cole. “Why?”

“Ever heard Kyla talk about it?”

“Not
that I can think of. I know Jess is southern. Went to school with Kyla and Hayley in Boston. I think that’s all I know.”

“Huh.” Cole tied Moon Gypsy, then pulled Sienna’s bridle to get her saddled.

“Why the sudden curiosity about her past?” Decker’s eyebrows went up, amused.

Cole shrugged, not sure how much to tell Decker about either their ride to the falls, or the resulting chill that had
left him wondering. He’d been up for hours thinking about the way she’d ducked away from his hand, like she’d expected he was going to hit her.

It made him sick to wonder if somebody had.

“I don’t know, Decker. Something just seems—off. She’s always had that yogi-calm thing going on, but she’s—different this time. She’s edgy, jumpy. Feels like something happened. Maybe it’s not her past at all.
Maybe it’s recent. I don’t know.”

“Maybe she’s actually interested in you. Maybe you’re making her nervous. Have you thought of that?”

Cole shook his head. “It’s not that kind of nerves.”

Decker looked like he was going to say something flippant, but held back at the last second. “Want me to ask Kyla?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining things. You remember that filly we got from over
in Billings? Back when we were too young to know we were too young to train her?”

“Dad just about shot the guy who’d had his hands on her.” Decker nodded. “You comparing Jess to a filly?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. It’s almost like she’s scared.” He turned to head back toward the stable to get the last two horses.

Decker fell into step with him when he was halfway there. “I’ll talk to Kyla if
you want.”

“I don’t know. I’ll let you know. Maybe it’s nothing.”

Decker continued anyway. “Doubt it. Not if you’re picking up on something. Y’know, Cole. There’s nobody west of the Mississippi who’s better with a hurt horse than you. Never know. Those skills could come in handy with a hurt woman, too.”

As Decker headed down to the other end of the stable to get Chance, Cole paused in the doorway.
Maybe Decker had a point. Jess’s eyes last night had given off those same sparks he’d seen before with horses. The fear had practically vibrated off from her body as he’d reached for her, and her feet had been poised to run, though he wasn’t even sure she realized it.

Something had hurt her, and he was dead afraid it was something big. But when? Why had he never noticed?

Was she just really
good at hiding it? Or was he just clueless?

He shook his head again. He didn’t know what had happened, but he was damn sure he was going to find out.

And then he was going to do his best to fix it.

Jess waited nervously at the corral gate, praying that the kids would descend before Cole came back out of the stable. She’d welcome their chaos if it prevented her from being alone with him right
now. She’d tried to convince Kyla to assign her to something besides kid duty with Cole this morning, but when Kyla was on a mission, there was no deterring her.

Jess thought back to last night, playing the hours through her head. She and Cole had ridden home from the waterfall in a false state of lightness, Cole making inane conversation the entire way, trying—she knew—to put her back at ease.
She hated that she’d made him feel guilty, but her instincts had taken over when she’d seen his hand coming toward her.

For years, she’d ducked. Or tried to. And since she’d broken free of Smugglers’ Gully, she’d never let anyone close again. She’d had an ice queen rep in college that had suited her just fine, and since then had been perfectly happy to go it alone—perfectly happy building a new
life as Jessalyn Alcott.

She had her studio, her sunny apartment, good friends—and not a man in sight. And that had been just fine. She’d finally gotten to the point where she didn’t think about her past every day. She’d finally gotten to the point where she could scan the freezer section of the grocery store without having her eyes land firmly on the kind of peas she’d held against her ribs
so often.

She’d finally stopped thinking about Billy.

But then that envelope had come, and it had all come back in a raging red haze. For as sad as she was about Grampy’s death, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of anger. She’d worked so hard to build her new life, so hard to bury the old—and now? She sighed. She had no idea what
now
was going to bring.

The money he’d left her would certainly
ease the strain of a client-starved summer, but at what price? There was no way that Luanne and Roxie would rest until they had their nicotine-stained paws on the money.

Jess blinked hard, trying not to let her brain even travel to Breezy Meadow. She rubbed her nose, the stink of Roxie’s Marlboros still stuck somewhere way up inside. Aunt Luanne might be the mouthpiece right now, but Jess knew
Roxie was right at Luanne’s elbow, egging her on. They smelled money, and they’d chase the trail until they got what they thought they deserved.

And then there was Billy. And Mack. That night was etched in her memory forever, and she grew more scared by the day that it was finally catching up with her.

“Morning, Jess!” Cole’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

She jumped and looked up,
pasting on a smile, and was struck by how unfairly adorable he looked, every single time she spotted him. Today he had on Wranglers that hugged in all the right places, a dark blue T-shirt, and his ever-present Stetson.

He flopped a saddle over the rail. “Any rug rat sightings yet?”

“Not yet. I think Ma’s still plying them with her chocolate chip pancakes.”

“Perfect. That’ll give us time to
get ready for today’s craziness.”

She grimaced. “Should I be scared?”

“I don’t know. Did you bring extra clothes this time?” He winked, and Jess’s shoulders relaxed. Apparently he was going to play things light and easy today.
Thank God.

“You ended up wetter than me, cowboy. And you deserved every drop that hit you.”

Cole smiled, and again that dimple just about felled her. “Maybe.”

Just
then, a chorus of yelps came flying out of the main lodge, followed by the ten kids Jess had helped with yesterday. “Brace yourself. She just let them loose.”

Cole looked up the hill. “So I guess before they get here, I should probably warn you about this afternoon.”

“Do you have to sound like one of those doomsday-show announcers when you say it?”

He laughed. “It’s not that bad.”

“Which tells
me it’s awful.” Jess looked up the hill. “You know what? I think actually Hayley might need me this afternoon.”

“Too bad, cowgirl. You’re stuck with me for the day. State laws and kid-to-adult ratios and all that. Whisper Creek management requires a one-to-five ratio.”

“Whisper Creek management is Kyla.”

“Yes.”

“Cole—”

He shrugged. “Hey, I don’t make the rules around here anymore. I just
follow them, or I don’t get any pie.”

“Nice.” Jess raised her eyebrows. “If I’d broken my leg falling in the creek yesterday, you’d have to figure it out today, right?”

“But you didn’t.”

“I could have.”

He laughed again. “I still don’t understand how you didn’t realize that was a turtle.”

“How many turtles do you think I see, generally? It looked like a rock, it felt like a rock, and therefore,
I assumed it was a rock.”

“Wasn’t.” He looked toward the kids, who were only fifty feet away now and coming fast. “Kids voted for a dance-off this afternoon. That’s why I went with the doomsday voice.”

“A dance-off?”

“Yeah. You know—we dance, they score us, I win.” He shrugged, grinning. “The usual.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Sure it is.”

“Because you can actually dance?”

“Nope.” His eyes darkened
for a second. “Because I get to watch
you
dance.”

Jess put her hands on her hips, looking left to right like maybe she could still escape, but it was far too late. The kids were swarming around them, all hyped-up on chocolate chip pancakes and syrup.

“Jess, did you hear about the dance-off?” Ella grabbed Jess’s hand.

“I just heard, sweetie.” She tried to keep a growling sound out of her voice.

“Are you excited?”

“Um, I don’t know, really. I’ve never been to a dance-off. I have no idea how it works.”

Ella tipped her head. “You just dance, silly!”

“Yeah, silly. You just dance.” Cole raised his eyebrows in challenge.

Jess crouched down. “You know who’s a great dancer? Kyla. Maybe we should go get her instead.”

Cole laughed. “Kyla’s a terrible dancer, and you know it. So does she,
so she won’t care that I said so.” He whistled to silence everyone, then pointed to the sky. “What time is it?”

The kids looked up, then around at the landmarks and shadows Cole had been teaching them to use all week. Britney started to look at her watch instead, but he caught her. “Brit, didn’t I tell you watches aren’t allowed at Whisper Creek?”

She pouted. “Then how can you know what time
it is?”

“Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “What have I been talking about all this week? You don’t need a watch to know what time it is. Not out here, anyway.”

“It’s ten o’clock.” She rolled her eyes, but Jess saw a smile trying to sneak out.

“Good. You’re close. Nine forty-five, I bet.” Cole squinted at the sky, closing one eye, then the other. “Maybe nine forty-seven. Jess? Can you verify?”

Jess put up her hands. “Sorry. No watch.”

“Fine. Britney, check your watch, but then you have to hand it to me until you leave.”

Britney looked at her wrist, then tapped her watch. “No way.”

Cole leaned on the fence, crossing his arms, the confidence practically wafting off from him. “Time, please?”

“Nine forty-seven.” Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “How’d you
do
that?”

“I pay
attention, that’s how. Now hand me your watch, and I’ll return it on Saturday.”

Britney unclipped the band and handed it to him, then looked at the sky, shading her eyes. Jess bit her lip so she wouldn’t smile, but she couldn’t help but catch Cole’s eye. He winked, then turned toward the rest of the kids. “So, what should we do today? Frog hunting?”

“Ride!” they chorused.

“Super hot and sweaty
mountain climbing expedition?”

“Ride!”

Jess laughed. Clearly this was a daily routine.

Cole put up a hand, silencing them. “Okay, all right. Scooping horse poop in the barn?”

“Ride!”

Their voices launched into a wild crescendo, until finally he shook his head and sighed. “You know, I come up with all of these great ideas, and all you little cowpokes want to do is ride horses.” He motioned
them toward the corral, where the ponies were standing at the ready. “All right, then. Come on. We’ll go for a ride.”

“Yay!” The kids shouted and scrambled toward the gate, but at one tip of Cole’s hat, their voices shushed right down to nothing, and they walked through it one by one, carefully heading to their ponies.

Jess sidled closer to him. “Are you the kid-whisperer or something?”

“If
I am, it’s purely by accident.”

“Right. You’re really good with them.”

“It’s just practice.” He rolled his eyes. “They love to be tortured. No idea why.”

“It works.” She took a deep breath. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had your own kids.”

“Someday.” He laughed. “Hopefully a whole stable full of them. The more hands to help out here, the better, right?” Then he pointed to Sky Dancer.
“You ready to saddle up, cowgirl?”

Jess smiled to cover up the gnawing pit that had just erupted in her stomach. “Sure. Better believe it.”

Yes, the one place she wanted to be today was on horseback, clip-clopping gently through the trails that crisscrossed Whisper Creek property. She wanted to breathe great gulps of mountain air, wanted to feast her eyes on the delicate palette of greens and
purples in the meadows, and wanted mostly to disappear into the shadows of the pines.

“Just don’t get too tired. We’ve got that dance-off this afternoon.” Cole waggled his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t want you to lose.”

“Oh, we’ll see who loses, cowboy.” Jess hopped lightly into the saddle, clucking to Sky Dancer to get her moving. “I’m pretty sure it won’t be me.”