Snowbound with the Cowboy Read online

  She’d fallen under his spell in high school, but that was long over. Even if she felt the smallest twinge of attraction now, the Langfords had destroyed the two people who loved her most. And after that, empty charm and stunning good looks didn’t matter—not to her. There’d be no point at any rate. Tate intended to leave town.

  But Pine Bend was now her permanent home, and she never would.

  * * *

  Jess tossed another bale of hay off of the hayrack hitched to his truck and grinned down at Tate. “So the new vet in town is your old girlfriend, right? Did she ask you out on a date?”

  Tate hefted the bale and carried it into the horse barn. “Not my old girlfriend,” he called over his shoulder. “It was a class of thirty. We all knew each other.”

  “Not how I remember it.” Jess threw off another bale. “Seems to me you two dated for a while, your senior year. I remember, because I’d already left for college but I was a tad jealous when I heard about it. A pretty girl like that—a guy like you—it sure didn’t make sense to me. And she was a doctor’s daughter, to boot. High-class. How did you manage it, anyway?”

  Ignoring him, Tate hauled the bale into the barn and tossed it up to Devlin, who was standing on top of the stack in the rapidly filling hay stall just inside the door.

  Devlin leveled a cocky look down at him. “I’m real curious too. Of course, back then you hadn’t gone off to rodeo just yet. You didn’t hobble around like Methuselah.”

  “Like you?” Tate retorted, then immediately wished he could call his teasing words back.

  Devlin had been through countless surgeries and rounds of physical therapy before receiving a medical discharge from the Marines. Even if they were all just taunting each other right now, Dev deserved only respect for all he’d been through.

  But Dev just grinned back at him. “So, she’s coming back this morning to check on that injured gelding. Right? Will we get to see romantic sparks fly? Hey, Jess, look—Tate’s blushing.”

  “Am not,” Tate shot back. “With luck, you’ll both be gone by then. You’re gonna embarrass that poor woman to death.”

  “Us?” Jess tossed two more bales off the truck and melodramatically flapped a hand against his chest. “We don’t want to kid around with her—we want to make sure she has good intentions toward our baby brother.”

  “Yep,” Dev concurred gravely. “You’re still not married at thirty-two, so you obviously need our help.”

  Tate snickered. “Maybe you two needed mine. Jess didn’t get married till last June, and you didn’t even get engaged till that same weekend. You two weren’t exactly speedy, either.”

  Twenty more bales flew off the hayrack in rapid succession, a brief pause, then the final ten. Jess climbed off the empty rack and helped Tate toss the rest of the bales up to Devlin.

  When the job was done, Tate stood back, took off his leather gloves and slapped them against his thigh to knock off the hay dust. The hay stall was full. Up in the hayloft, there wasn’t room for another bale, and outside, rows of big round bales of hay were stored for the cows.

  “Thanks, guys. I’d forgotten about what a good feeling it is to have a barn full of hay.”

  “Now we just need to get you to stay for good,” Jess said dryly. “What are the chances of you changing your mind?”

  “Still pretty much zero.” He’d once been a top money earner, but ten years of rodeo injuries had taken a relentless physical toll and his days of competing were over. “I still plan to buy that rodeo stock contractor’s company at his dispersal sale on May 2nd. Livestock, equipment and all. It has one of the best reputations in the country, so I could step in and get right back to following the rodeo circuit. I miss that life.”

  Devlin lifted an eyebrow. “You were a competitor, sure. But what do you know about producing rodeos?”

  “I’m not interested in producing the whole event. Just contracting to supply all of the livestock they need, then hauling it to the various rodeo grounds.”

  “If you care for cattle that much, you have plenty of livestock right here.”

  Tate snorted. “Beef cattle and bucking bulls aren’t the same.”

  “On what planet? They all moo.” The corner of Devlin’s mouth quirked up in a grin at his own lame joke. “And here you’ve got a fine house to live in, on a spread with a stellar view of the Rockies...an old girlfriend coming to call...”

  “Have you looked in that house? It’s been an adventure, from the first day I moved in.”

  “No, but...”

  “Jess?”

  “Uh...no. Not since I came back to Montana to help dad out. A couple years, now. With a broom and a little dusting...”

  “Oh, I cleaned it up the best I could when I moved in. But please, let me give you a tour.” Tate led them across the wide parking area to the tumbledown picket fence surrounding the yard, then to the rickety wooden steps leading up to the sagging wraparound covered porch. “Watch your step. Some of these boards are—”

  One of the porch floorboards splintered under Devlin’s boot and he nimbly stepped to one side. “Challenging?”

  “Dangerous.” Tate opened the back screen door and ushered them into the large country kitchen, with its yellowed linoleum flooring curling at the edges and Harvest Gold appliances dating back to the 1970s. “The fridge runs at around fifty degrees and two of the stove burners don’t work. The furnace is so old that I try to avoid starting it, so thank goodness the fireplace checked out all right.”

  “Nice and cozy, then.”

  “Sheer practicality. I had to turn the water back on when I moved in, so when the outside temp drops into the thirties I have to light a fire to keep the pipes from freezing.”

  Jess looked at the faded, peeling wallpaper and cleared his throat. “A month or two of work and—”

  “No, really. Just keep going.” Tate waved them on toward the living room, where an open staircase led up to the bedrooms. “You haven’t experienced this place until you’ve seen the water damage on the ceilings upstairs. Some are actually bowing downward. Oh, and the breeze whistles right through those window frames. It’s mighty chilly.”

  Upstairs, the brothers roamed through the three bedrooms and the solitary bathroom, where the squeaky floor hinted at rotting floorboards beneath a shabby avocado shag carpet. The house was a disaster—Tate couldn’t deny it. Yet, as he glanced around, he imagined Sara living here with her loving aunt and uncle. Conversation around the dinner table. Christmas celebrations. The kind of warm family life he’d longed for after his mother died. How could he let it all go to ruin?

  “I get the drift,” Devlin muttered. “The place is a wreck. Apparently Dad didn’t figure the place was worth saving.”

  “But it is,” Tate countered. “The house has good bones. It just needs work. Though if the problems aren’t dealt with soon, it will be nothing but a pile of firewood.”

  “Exactly.” Devlin prodded at the musty carpeting with the toe of his boot. “I vote for demolition.”

  Jess studied the stained ceiling above the top of the stairs. “Tate?”

  “Hiring a remodeling company would cost a fortune. You probably couldn’t even find one willing to come out this far.” Tate rested a hand on the wobbly staircase banister and gave it a light shake. “The rodeo contractor’s dispersal sale is the beginning of May, so I won’t be here long enough to get everything done. But, Jess, you gave up the career you wanted, to take over the ranch. And, Dev, you came back too. I owe you guys, and I want to do all I can to help. I haven’t been around to do my share.”

  Jess started down the stairs. “So what do you propose?”

  “I can pull together some numbers on what has to be done, the materials and how much it will cost. If you two agree, I’ll tackle as much as I can while I’m here. For some of the labor I might need extra hands, if one of you can spare the t
ime.”

  “Both of us can, but Dev is handier than I am. Since coming home, he renovated two of the three cabins over at the home place.” A sly grin lifted a corner of Jess’s mouth. “And who knows? Dev thought he was just gonna stay awhile, then move on. Now he’s running the adjoining Cavanaugh spread that Dad bought years ago. You might end up staying too. Maybe even here on the Branson place.”

  Tate laughed at the suggestion, though it brought the past slamming into his thoughts. The last place he’d ever want to live was on a part of the Langford Ranch, where bad memories were lurking at every corner, and his old guilt and anger could resurface without warning.

  How did Jess and Devlin cope? Had they somehow buried the past too deeply to even notice anymore?

  That seemed impossible.

  “Say you do manage to buy that company and its bucking stock.” Jess pursed his lips as he surveyed the living room before moving on to the kitchen. “You’ll still need time to develop your business plan, advertise and start to schedule rodeo dates for next year. Maybe you’ll need to stay here longer than you think—at least until you get on your feet.”

  “What about the livestock semitrailers you’ll need for going cross-country to rodeos?” Devlin interjected.

  Tate snorted. “I appreciate all of the fatherly advice, but I have it covered. The guy holding the dispersal sale is selling his trailers, and he’s willing to work with the winning bidder as a salaried manager for the first year to ensure an easy transition.”

  Jess rocked back on his heels. “You do know this won’t be cheap.”

  “I found a good broker early on, and invested my rodeo winnings for years. I’ll also qualify for business loans.” Tate shrugged. “I’ve always known I couldn’t compete forever, so this has been my plan for a long time.”

  Jess tipped his head toward a window facing the barns. “At least you’ll have this—a place to keep the livestock.”

  “Actually, I’ll be looking for something more central—close to Denver, probably.”

  From outside came the sound of tires crunching across the gravel parking area, then pulling to a stop.

  Devlin skated a sidelong look at Tate and raised an eyebrow. “I guess we’re in luck. Now that we’ve sorted out your new career, we can all go out to greet the vet and see if you have any chance with her at all.”

  “Maybe we can even help,” Jess added with a laugh. “You’ll probably need it.”

  Tate stifled a groan as his childhood memories flooded back.

  Jess and Dev had always been bigger, stronger and fiercely competitive with each other. He’d idolized them. Shadowed them. In turn, they’d relentlessly teased him as only older brothers could, and they’d become experts at it.

  He didn’t need that now.

  Even if seeing Sara again had reawakened a glimmer of feelings he’d buried long ago, he had no intention of pursuing her. There was no point, given her career in town and his plans to hit the road.

  But both Jess and Dev could make the next few months more than awkward if they decided to make overblown declarations about unrequited love...and embarrassed Sara or gave her the wrong impression.

  Hopefully they’d matured beyond the teenage taunts and teasing that all three of them had shared, but he wouldn’t put it past them, either.

  Still, he had to give them credit.

  They’d each found an amazing woman to settle down with, and from what he could see, they’d both found hope and inspiration in their faith. He couldn’t lay claim to any of that. The years had made him more cynical.

  God hadn’t listened to him years ago, when Heather and Mom died, or after his rodeo buddy Jace was injured in a horrific rodeo accident. A good, kind man and a devout Christian, Jace died anyway, leaving a distraught wife and two little kids. Where was God then?

  After that it hadn’t seemed worth the effort, no matter what Grandma Betty said about God always answering prayers. It had been a while since he’d stepped inside a church. But maybe God would be willing to handle something small.

  Listening to his brothers’ laughter as they sauntered toward the barn, he glanced heavenward, then briefly closed his eyes and prayed.

  Chapter Two

  Sara reached across the front seat of her truck to stroke the dog’s head, then rested her hand on its thin shoulders. “We’re going to find you a good home, Lucy,” she murmured. “Someone who will take care of those pups of yours too. I promise.”

  It wasn’t going to be easy. Mostly black, with a white shawl over its neck and shoulders and four tall white socks mottled with black freckles, she looked like an indeterminate mixture of border collie, golden retriever and perhaps a pointer, and the father of her pups was anybody’s guess. The folks five miles down the road hadn’t known, and hadn’t cared. They’d just wanted her gone.

  She was halfway out of her truck when she spied the three Langford boys—men—striding across the parking area toward her.

  Even from a distance, she knew they couldn’t be anyone else, each of them tall and broad-shouldered, with the same sort of self-confident saunter. No one could mistake them for anything but brothers, though Tate was a bit taller and Jess was a little heavier.

  But despite the rocky end to their high school romance years ago, Tate was still the only guy who had ever made her stomach tie itself in knots and made her foolish heart beat a little faster.

  She stifled a sigh, wishing this vet call was already over.

  Jess reached her first and thrust out his hand. “Good to see you again, Sara. You and Tate were three years behind me, but I remember you from school.”

  She shook his hand and nodded, then looked over at Devlin and offered her hand to him, forcing herself to avoid any reaction to the scarring that trailed down the side of his temple and disappeared inside his shirt collar. “Devlin. Good to see you again.”

  “Same here.” He shot a quick, indecipherable grin at Tate as he shook her hand. “I hear you recently moved back to Pine Bend. I expect we’ll be seeing you out at the ranch quite a bit in the future. For vet calls, that is.”

  There was an undercurrent of tension—maybe even sly humor—radiating between the three brothers that she couldn’t quite read, and she faltered for a split second, then regained her composure. Whatever nonsense was going on between them, she needed to check the injured horse and be on her way. Leaving the Langford place would make the rest of the day seem a whole lot brighter.

  “So how is that gelding doing?” she asked briskly as she grabbed her satchel from the backseat of her truck and started for the barn. “Still on stall rest, right?”

  “Absolutely.” Tate followed her toward the barn.

  The other two brothers veered off toward a gleaming black Ford F350 hitched to an empty hay wagon. “See you later,” Jess called out. “I’ve got to meet a cattle buyer this afternoon.”

  “Thank goodness,” Tate muttered under his breath as the truck took off down the lane, light snow boiling up from beneath its tires.

  “What?”

  He hesitated, then gave her a wry glance. “Dev seems to think you and I were quite an item in high school, and that it never stopped.”

  She stumbled, but caught herself. “Oh.”

  “And since he has the tact of a Brahman bull, you might as well be forewarned. I am not responsible for anything he says, implies or does.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh at Tate’s pained expression. “I’m not sure I can visualize an ex-Marine as a matchmaker.”

  “Frankly, I think he and Jess were just trying to get me riled, but I can only hope for the best.”

  At the sound of a pitiful bark from her truck she glanced over her shoulder, then continued toward the barn.

  But when the dog howled with fear, that stopped her in her tracks. “I’m sorry. That’s Lucy. Do you have any dogs loose around here?” />
  “Nope.”

  “Do you mind if I let her out of my truck?”

  “Go right ahead. She sounds pretty desperate.”

  Sara went back and lifted the dog down from the seat. Once on the ground, she shivered against Sara’s leg.

  “Looks like your dog is gonna be a momma, and soon.”

  “Within a few days, I suspect.”

  He gave the dog a closer look, then raised his gaze to Sara’s and lifted an eyebrow. “Except for that belly, she looks awfully thin.”

  “I saw her cowering in a snow-filled ditch a few miles down the road. I stopped at the house to ask about her, and the guy said he ‘wanted to get rid of her,’ because she’s pregnant.” Sara said a quick, silent prayer of thanks, grateful that she hadn’t driven past without noticing. “Pathetic as this is, she spent her life on a heavy log chain with a ramshackle doghouse, but he’d let her loose, quit feeding her and tried to chase her off so she’d move on. Can you imagine? Some people shouldn’t be responsible for any living thing.”

  “I’ll agree with you there. At the least, he should have spayed her.”

  “From the looks of the house I don’t think he could afford it, and this county doesn’t have a free spay clinic, either.” Another one of her goals, she reflected. “At least not yet.”

  “Are there any animal shelters?”

  “Not in this county. The closest is a two-hour drive.”

  “Some people cast off a dog like trash. But for that dog, home is their whole world—the one family they’ll love for their short lifetime, if they’re lucky. Heartless people like her owner make me sick.”

  Tate was watching her intently now, his eyes fixed on hers. She took a slow, deep breath to calm down the anger in her voice. “Sorry, I get a little intense when it comes to animal welfare.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less. It’s your job.”

  “And my passion.” She leaned down to ruffle the fur at the dog’s neck. “I’m just so sorry that I can’t keep her myself.”