Home to the Cowboy. Amanda Renee

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      “Hey, Mrs. Anderson! Good to see you again!” Tess waved hello, then collapsed into another fit of laughter. Janie shook her head and continued with her walk. Still lying in the driveway, she propped herself up on her elbows and looked at the suitcases. “Let’s try this again.”

      Tess stood, dusting off her jeans, and proceeded to struggle, kick and swear until she managed to free her suitcases and set them in the house. Then she took a deep breath and headed out to the Langtry ranch to apologize.

      * * *

      COLE HAD KNOWN for a few weeks that Tess was flying into town today and had been psyching himself up to meet her fiancé. When Maggie informed him the wedding was off, he’d chastised himself for the slight elation he’d felt at the news Tess was single again.

      No, he’d rather drive his pickup over one of his championship belt buckles than give that woman an ounce of his heart again.

      Tess had always seen him as a trusting, reliable friend, but the feelings Cole had had for her in high school grew stronger each time they visited one another after graduation. Tired of wondering what might be, two years ago Cole grabbed the bull by the horns and told Tess how he really felt. He’d been relieved to hear she had the same feelings for him, but annoyed he’d wasted so much energy on women who had meant nothing to him. The two of them made things official and started dating, but the long distance was difficult.

      Although they made the relationship work with frequent trips, it grew harder to say goodbye and Cole was set to show Tess how much she meant to him by proposing. Always one to take a ride on the wild side, he knew how much she loved spontaneity and adventure. The night was meticulously arranged with his brother Shane’s assistance. A private roller-coaster ride high above the Stratosphere, followed by a four-course chef’s tasting menu at the Top of the World restaurant, would lead to a proposal as they overlooked one of the world’s most exciting cities.

      For the second half of Tess’s surprise, Cole prebooked the Stratosphere wedding chapel for Valentine’s Day in hopes she’d love the idea of a destination wedding. But the chance to slip a ring on her finger never came.

      When he and Tess walked out of the Thomas & Mack Center that evening after his victorious ride, he was blindsided by a couple of topless groupies. That in itself wouldn’t have been so bad, but when one of the women asked when they were going to spend another night together, Tess flew out of the parking lot before he had an opportunity to explain. The truth was he had been with each of them before, on more than one occasion but never at the same time, and he couldn’t blame Tess for assuming the worst of him. Before he was able to tell her he’d slept with them before he and Tess started dating, Tess had checked out of the hotel. He knew his ladies’ man reputation was bad, but after their past few months together, he’d thought she understood where his heart was, even though he hadn’t actually said the words.

      Hopping mad, Cole took his anger out on the rodeo and overrode every event, making one careless mistake after another and destroying any chance he had of winning. He still blamed Tess for that loss, although she wouldn’t know it, considering he hadn’t heard from her again with the exception of a brief voice mail when his father died. When she didn’t show up for the funeral, he didn’t bother to return her call. Now she was in town for his brother Jesse’s wedding and there was no avoiding her, especially since both of their mothers were handling the reception.

      The Bridle Dance Ranch, one of the state’s largest paint and quarter cutting horse ranches, left Cole with little time on his hands. The newly added sod farm division was still in its infancy and had probably been one of his father’s better concepts, but Cole and his brothers’ lack of knowledge in the field added to Cole’s daily stress. Refusing to give Tess a second thought, he had successfully blocked her out of his mind until his father’s death. Although he’d been surrounded by friends and family, she was the one person he wanted around, and she had kept her distance.

      “I heard Tess is in town.” Jesse sat on the stool beside Cole at the Magpie counter. “How are you holding up?”

      “How the hell did you hear that? I just saw her a few minutes ago myself.”

      “Ferris was behind her and said she was parked in the middle of the street, looking around. Had to toot the horn to get her to move.”

      “It’s been two years,” Cole growled. “Maybe she forgot what the place looked like.”

      “Still a sore subject, even after seeing her, huh?” Jesse asked.

      “I told her we need to talk, but who knows? I used to be able to predict how she’d react to any given situation, but not anymore. She seems different.”

      “She got dumped and lost her job,” Jesse stated. “What do you expect?”

      “It’s more than that.” Cole stood, placing his hat on his head. “The fire that always got her in so much trouble is gone.”

      “She’ll come around.” Jesse motioned for his usual breakfast order. “Call me later so we can go over the plans for the ranch.”

      Cole slapped his brother on the shoulder and headed out the door. He knew Jesse still carried guilt from not resolving the decade-and-a-half-long falling-out he’d had with their father. When the will was read, everyone was surprised to hear Jesse’s name included with his brothers as one of the ranch’s stockholders. Although Jesse in no way wanted anything to do with Bridle Dance, his father had respected him for working to create a legacy of his own training horses at the Double Trouble Ranch without any of the family’s financial resources.

      Nonetheless, Bridle Dance was Jesse’s birthright and he wanted to memorialize their father, with Cole and their mother’s help, by fulfilling Joe’s dream of converting part of Bridle Dance into a hippotherapy center. Joe had visited a similar facility and had seen how a horse’s movements were used to treat people with injuries and physical disabilities. Cole was overjoyed when Jesse voted for opening their own facility and pledged his share of the profits from the rest of the ranch to the project.

      Due to the size of the Langtrys’ business, Joe had the foresight to name Cole’s mother, Kay, and attorney Henry Dalton, Tess’s father, as coexecutors of the estate. Joe’s will bequeathed the house, the land and their small winery to Kay, and the business side of the ranch was to be split evenly between the four brothers. The land itself was leased back to the Bridle Dance Ranch Corporation, providing Kay with a lifetime income.

      The corporate bylaws stated every major financial decision involving the ranch required a majority vote, and without a say in the business, Kay was at the mercy of her children where Dance of Hope, the hippotherapy facility, was concerned. And since each sibling held a twenty-five-percent stake in the company, the brothers were at a standoff.

      Cole and Jesse were determined to honor their father and bring the nonprofit to fruition, but Shane and Chase didn’t share that vision. They went along with it when Joe was alive because they didn’t have any other choice. They wanted to build an over-the-top, world-class rodeo school instead.

      Cole had to find a way to change his brothers’ minds and he’d stop at nothing to see the project through. He needed to focus his attention on the ranch, not Tess, yet somehow, she kept popping into his head. Memories of her scent, the touch of her hand in his, even her tousled hair were singeing the outer shell of his heart.

      But that book was closed and he refused to reopen it.

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