Her Unexpected Cowboy. Debra Clopton

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      Chapter One

      Rowdy McDermott closed the door of his truck and scanned the ranch house that had seen better days. Carrying the casserole he’d been sent to deliver, he strode toward the rambling, low-slung residence. He’d always liked this old place and the big weathered barn behind it—liked the rustic appearance of the buildings that seemed cut from the hillside sloping down on one side before sweeping wide in a sunny meadow. There was peace here in this valley, and it radiated from it like the glow of the sun bouncing off the distant stream cutting a path across the meadow.

      This beautiful three-hundred-acre valley was connected to his family’s ranch. Rowdy had hoped one day to make this place his own, but the owner wouldn’t sell. Not even when he’d moved to a retirement home several years ago and Rowdy had made him a good offer. He’d told Rowdy he had plans for the place after he died.

      Four days ago his “plan” had arrived in the form of the owner’s niece, so Rowdy’s grandmother had informed him, at the same time she’d volunteered him to be her delivery boy.

      He knocked on the green front door, whose paint was peeling with age. Getting no answer, he strode to the back of the house, taking in the overgrown bushes and landscaping as he went. Years of neglect were visible everywhere.

      A black Dodge Ram sat in the drive with an enclosed trailer hitched to the back of it. He’d just stepped onto the back porch when a loud banging sound came from the barn, followed by a crash and a high-pitched scream.

      Rowdy set the dish on the steps and raced across the yard. The double doors of the barn were open and he skidded through them. A tiny woman clung to the edge of the loft about fifteen feet from the ground.

      “Help,” she cried, as she lost her grip—

      Rushing forward, Rowdy swooped low. “Gotcha,” he grunted, catching her just in the nick of time. He managed to stay on his feet as his momentum forced him to plunge forward.

      They would have been okay if there hadn’t been an obstacle course’s worth of stuff scattered on the barn floor.

      Rowdy leaped over cans of paint and dodged a wheelbarrow only to trip over a pitchfork— They went flying and landed with a thud on a pile of musty hay.

      The woman in his arms landed on top of him, strands of her silky, honey-colored hair splayed across her face.

      Not bad. Not bad at all.

      She blinked at him through huge protective goggles, her pale blue eyes wide as she swept the hair away. A piece of hay perched on top of her head like a crown.

      “You saved me,” she gasped, breathing hard. “I can’t believe it. Thank you.”

      “Anytime,” Rowdy said with a slow drawl, forcing a grin despite feeling as if he’d just lost a battle with a bronc. The fact that there was a female as cute as this one sitting on his chest numbed the pain substantially.

      Those amazing blue eyes widened behind the goggles. “I’m sorry, what am I thinking sitting on you like this?” She scrambled off and knelt beside him. “Can you move? Let me help you up.” Without waiting for his reply, she grasped his arm, tugging on him. “That had to have hurt you.”

      He sat up and rolled his shoulder. “Hitting the ground from the loft would have been a harder fall. What were you doing, anyway?”

      Leaning back on her heels, she yanked off the goggles.

      Whoa— Rowdy’s pulse kicked like a bull as he looked into her sparkling eyes.

      “I was knocking a wall out with a sledgehammer. It was a splendid feeling—until the main beam gave way and I flew over the edge like a ninny.” A nice blush fanned across her cheeks. “Talk about feeling silly—that’ll sure do it. But I am so grateful you were here. For a short person like me, that was a long drop. And that you got to me so quick. How fast are you, anyway?”

      She talked with the speed of light and Rowdy had a hard time keeping up. “Fast enough, but clearly not as fast as you talk.” He chuckled.

      “Ha, it’s a curse! I do tend to rattle on when I’ve been saved from sure disaster.” She stood up—which wasn’t all that much farther from the ground.

      Rowdy wasn’t real sure she was even five foot, and knew she wasn’t when he stood up and looked down at her. At only six feet himself, he towered over her by a good twelve inches...which would make hugging a little awkward, but hey, he could overcome.

      “I’m Lucy Calvert.” She stared up at him and held out her hand.

      Lucy. He liked it. Liked more the tingle of awareness that sparked the moment he took her small hand in his. When her eyes flared, as if she felt the same spark, his mind went blank.

      “Rowdy. Rowdy McDermott, at your service,” he said as his pulse kicked up like a stampede of wild horses.

      “Rowdy.” She slipped her hand free and tugged the edge of her collared shirt closed. Her smile faltered. “I think I may have heard my uncle mention you—I think he said your name fit you.”

      The disapproval he detected in her voice snapped him out of his infatuated fog as regret of the life he’d led twisted inside his gut. What exactly had his old neighbor said about him?

      “It fits, but in all honesty, I’m trying hard to mend my ways.”

      “Oh.” Her blue eyes dug deep. “What were you here for before I literally threw myself at you?”

      “Food,” he said, feeling off balance by the way she studied him. “My, um, my grandmother made you a casserole and I’m the delivery boy.”

      “How sweet of her.” She laid her hand on his arm and his pulse kicked again. “And of you for bringing it over.”

      Rowdy wasn’t sure he’d ever been called sweet. He looked down at her hand on his arm as that same buzz of electricity took his breath away. She turned, hips swaying and arms pumping as she headed toward the exit and left him in her dust.

      “Tell her thank you for me,” she called over her shoulder, keeping her steps lively without looking back.

      Rowdy followed.

      “Can I ask what you were doing up there knocking out walls in your barn?”

      They’d made it into the sunshine, and what had appeared to be her dark blond hair glistened like gold in the sun. She was getting better by the minute.

      “I’m starting my remodel job. I’m making an art studio up there and a wall was in my way.”

      “So you knocked it down. Do you do that with everything that gets in your way?” That got him the smile he was looking for. Trying to put her more at ease, he tucked his fingers into the pockets of his jeans and assumed a relaxed stance, putting his weight on one leg.

      “I like to hope I do.”

      “Really?”

      Her brows leveled over suddenly serious eyes. “Really. That happens to be my new life motto.”

      “Sounds СКАЧАТЬ