Cowboy Take Me Away Read online

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  For Yvonne Lindsay. I don’t even remember when we started doing this together, but our daily writing sprints mean the world to me. Thank you!

  Acknowledgments

  You only have to read a few of my books to realize that I thank the same people every time, but I have a core group of people in my life that deserve ongoing thanks! Firstly, I would like to acknowledge my editor on the Texas Kings series, Holly Ingraham. Working with you has been a very positive experience, and I hope you love this series as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also owe my gratitude to the St. Martin’s Paperbacks cover designers—all I can say is Wow! The covers look even better than I imagined they could.

  I would also like to thank my literary agent, Laura Bradford, for always answering my e-mails so promptly, being available for general hand-holding when required, and being all-around fabulous. I’m so pleased I went to the New Zealand Romance Writers Conference back in 2010—I met Laura there, ended up seated beside her at dinner, and the rest is history!

  Thank you also to my mother, Maureen. I’m feeling very fortunate to be an only child right now, because it means I can have her all to myself! That translates to having super-gran look after my kids all the time …

  I also have to thank my husband, Hamish, who is endlessly supportive of my work. Of course he’s hoping one of my books hits #1 on the New York Times list, earns us millions, and gets made into a top-grossing movie!

  Natalie Anderson and Nicola Marsh, you are both an incredible source of encouragement and support, and I admire you both. I love that I have you both to chat to whenever I need you. Thanks also to Yvonne Lindsay, for being there every day of the week. I can’t believe how motivating it is to know that you’re writing with me, making me accountable for how many words I write in our 30-minute sprints!

  One of the hardest parts of being an author is other people thinking you have an easy job just because you work from home. Writing is tough, and creating an entire book is an exhausting and hard-going process at times. The three authors I mentioned above are all busy mothers, and we all often work very long hours. We love what we do, but damn, it’s not easy even at the best of times! It’s nice knowing that we’re all there for each other when we need support.

  Chapter 1

  “Are you guys sure this isn’t one of you trying to prove your dick’s bigger than the other’s?” Nate asked, arms folded across his chest as he surveyed Ryder’s new house.

  Chase laughed and slapped his younger brother on the back. “Hey, I win that contest hands down.” Ryder shrugged off his hand and scowled at him. “Besides, I think you’ll find he’s had no say in the size of this place. That’s all Chloe’s doing.”

  “Ha-ha, very fucking funny,” Ryder said. “At least I have a wife.”

  Chase held up his hands. “You got me. No ball and chain attached here.”

  Nate shook his head and walked around the house. “For all the shit we give you about Chloe, you know we love her, right?”

  Ryder glared at them both. “Oh, I know. Haven’t you noticed that’s why I never let her see you guys without me around?”

  “Damn,” Chase teased, raising his eyebrows. “Guess I’ll have to stop having coffee with her every morning. Your bedroom’s so sunny late morning…”

  Ryder shrugged, but Chase could tell he’d pissed him off. The only thing Ryder was sensitive about now that he’d given up rodeo was Chloe, and they loved to tease him. After being on his back for years about giving up his career as a bull rider, they didn’t get many excuses to boss him around anymore.

  “Enough,” Nate scolded. “I need a shower then I’m off to Houston for a few days.”

  “You taking the jet?” Chase asked.

  “Yeah.” Nate stretched his arms above his head, flexing his muscles. None of them were wearing shirts after their early morning run, the air a refreshing blast of cool now they’d caught their breath. “I’ll be back to kick your ass again on Saturday.”

  “If we can move our legs by then,” Chase said with a chuckle.

  “I ain’t running with you guys again. I prefer my mornings nice and lazy with Chloe, if you get my drift,” Ryder told them.

  Chase and Nate both laughed. When they ran together, neither he nor his big brother wanted to come last, which meant their early morning jogs always turned into a competition, one that Nate had won today. Chase grinned. Next time he’d beat him—he’d train every morning he was gone to make sure of it. Ryder hadn’t even come close to keeping up with them.

  “So you guys do like the place, right?” Ryder asked, leaning against the timber framing, eyes trained on Chase.

  “I think it’s awesome,” Chase told him, all jokes aside. “The difference between you and me is that you’re building a home and I’m building a house. You’ll be hearing the pitter-patter of little Ryders before you know it.”

  Ryder raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Chase loved Chloe and he was looking forward to being an uncle one day, but there was no way he was settling down any time soon. His brother getting hitched was one thing, but it wasn’t for him.

  “You manage to get an appointment with the new artificial insemination specialist?” Nate asked, taking a swig from his water bottle as they all made the short walk back toward the main house, the homestead they’d been raised in on the sprawling King estate.

  “Yeah, she’s heading here this morning. A new vet based in Dallas, someone they’ve just recruited to join the team.” Chase tucked his T-shirt into the waistband of his running shorts. “We’re gonna have the best damn organic beef cattle in Texas, just you wait and see.”

  “I thought we already did.” Nate grunted. “Anyway, I’m counting on it. You’d think we were breeding cows made from gold at that price.”

  “I’ll catch you guys later. Have fun in Houston,” Ryder called over his shoulder, walking back toward the small guesthouse he was sharing with Chloe until his new place was completed. “Chase, I’ll come down and meet the new vet later on.”

  Chase nodded and followed Nate. He grimaced as he stretched out his legs. “I might have to postpone that ride I was planning on today.”

  Nate laughed. “You going soft in your old age?”

  “Me, old?” Chase shoved Nate and sprinted up the stairs ahead of him, howling in pain when he reached the top ahead of his brother.

  “Calves burning?”

  “Like a motherfucker,” Chase groaned, collapsing against the wall.

  “I’m gonna hit the shower. See you Saturday.”

  Chase headed for his room and stripped down to take a quick shower in the adjoining bathroom. He reemerged with a towel slung around his waist, his entire body aching as he found underwear, jeans, and a shirt. Training with Nate six days in a row was pure punishment—they’d always run, then do burpees and crunches until they were almost crippled. He got dressed, rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and made his way back do
wnstairs again, stopping in the kitchen to grab a coffee and something to eat.

  “Morning.”

  He glanced up, smiling when he saw Mrs. T, the housekeeper they’d had since he was a little boy. Nate still had her coming over every few days to keep the house tidy and food in the pantry, and they loved her like she was family.

  “Morning.” He grinned when she pointed to the kitchen counter. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?”

  She laughed and flapped a hand at him. “Don’t try to flatter me, Chase. I’ve known you since you were in diapers and you can’t fool me with that nonsense.”

  Chase pressed a kiss to her cheek as he passed and grabbed a bagel, slicing it open and slathering cream cheese all over it. He grinned when she turned on the coffee machine, knowing she was about to make him the perfect espresso.

  Nate appeared as he took his first sip, dressed in an open-necked shirt and suit pants, and shrugging into a jacket.

  “And you wonder why you can’t keep up with me,” Nate muttered, raising an eyebrow and trying to smack Chase’s bagel out of his hand.

  “I don’t care. I’d rather eat cream cheese than beat you.” It was a lie—he hated Nate kicking his butt, but he did love his food. Hell, if he wasn’t living here he’d be frying up eggs and bacon every morning like he usually did before heading out for the day. Nate, on the other hand, wouldn’t dream of scoffing down half the stuff his brothers did. They were only living together temporarily—up until recently he’d been living in a little place near the front of the property, which he’d pulled down to make way for something new.

  “You need to kick the coffee habit, too,” Nate told him. “Start drinking green juice.”

  Chase almost choked on his mouthful, swallowing down a piece of bagel and staring at Nate. “You’ve got to be shitting me? Ain’t no way anyone is ever gonna convince me to drink kale. Or eat sushi for that matter.” He laughed. “We could put in a crop and cash in on the whole green juice revolution but that’s where I draw the line.”

  Nate grabbed a bagel and stared at it for a few seconds. “Aw, what the hell. It does look good. Mrs. T, can you do my coffee in a to-go cup?” He laughed quietly. “And for the record, sushi is freaking amazing. Pity you’re such an old school douchebag.”

  Chase finished his bagel and started another as Nate wolfed half of his bagel down, before he grabbed his coffee and took the other half to go. His brother could call him all the names in the world—it was like water off a duck’s back.

  “I’ll see you later,” Nate said. “And yeah, none of that green shit for me, either. The juice I’ll pass on, but one of these days I’m taking you out for sashimi at that new place in the city.”

  Chase laughed. “Not a chance. But you do realize I might never move out of here, right? I never realized how good you had it.”

  Nate held up his bagel in the air in a wave. “Later.”

  Chase surveyed the kitchen now that he was alone, and smiled when he thought about how many mornings they’d all sat around together when they were kids. There were a lot of things that had been crappy about their childhood, but they’d been damn lucky, too. He never tired of hanging out with his brothers, even if they did give one another a hard time. Maybe losing their mom so young, then their dad walking out and leaving them with their grandparents had brought them closer together, but he had a feeling they’d have always been close regardless.

  Chase finished his breakfast, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and headed for the back door to pull on his boots and head out to the barn. He checked his wristwatch; the specialist veterinarian would be pulling up in less than half an hour, and he wanted to get his foreman over to listen to what she had to say.

  Damn. A cloud of dust in the distance told him that she was way ahead of schedule. The last guy they’d sent out had kept him waiting for an hour, so he hadn’t been expecting early.

  Chase jogged to the barn, calling out to Randy. He ducked into the feed shed, had a quick look around the yards, but didn’t see him. The shiny white pickup had pulled up now, and he wiped his hands on his jeans and headed over to meet her. From everything he’d read in the company’s latest brochure, there was no one more qualified with modern artificial insemination techniques, and he was looking forward to meeting the new recruit from Dallas AI.

  He raised a hand to shield his face from the sun, squinting as she pushed open her door and stepped out. Wow. He hadn’t expected the vet to have long blond hair or be dressed in skin-tight jeans and cowboy boots.

  “Hey,” Chase called out, dropping his hand and walking closer to the vehicle.

  “Morning!” The blond vet turned around, a big smile on her face that quickly turned into a look of surprise. “Chase?”

  “Hope?” Holy mother of God.

  “I, um, well…” she stuttered, and he just stared, speechless for the first time in his life. “I can’t believe it never clicked that this was your ranch.”

  Chase clamped his jaw shut instead of letting it fall to the ground, and closed the distance between them, opening his arms and giving Hope an awkward hug. “Howdy, stranger,” he managed, stepping back and staring down at her. “This is…”

  “Crazy,” she said, shaking her head and leaning against the driver’s door of the pickup. “You look good, Chase.”

  He laughed, dragging his eyes slowly up then down as he looked at her. “Straight back at you.” She looked a whole lot better than good.

  Hope’s face was flushed, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. He hadn’t seen her in years but she was just as gorgeous as she had been back then—blue eyes that danced when she spoke, full lips that framed a wide mouth, and a blond mane of that never looked too perfect to touch.

  “So you’ve been busy these last few years, huh?” he asked, folding his arms and watching her, staring at Hope and wondering how the hell she was standing in front of him. He should have been able to come up with something witty, but seeing Hope had fried his brain. “When they said the new specialist was Hope Walker, it didn’t exactly send off alarm bells.”

  She grimaced. “Married name, sorry.”

  Chase shrugged it off, not even wanting to think about her being married. She was the one who’d gotten away, the girl he’d never gotten out of his system. And somehow she’d ended up on his property without him even realizing it. Not to mention she was taken, which meant he needed to stop thinking about how good she’d look in his bed. He glanced down, noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring. “So you’ve moved out this way for good?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I know I should have looked you up, but…”

  “No need to apologize,” he said, shrugging. It ticked him off, but he got it. They’d been out of touch a long time. “I’d have only given your husband a grilling to make sure he was good enough for you, so it could have turned nasty.”

  The look in her eyes made him feel like a complete prick. Hope turned away and opened a container in the bed of the pickup, sorting through some things. The girl he’d known had been able to take a ribbing—they’d teased each other mercilessly their entire time in college—but he was pretty sure he’d gone and said the wrong thing just now.

  “I’d say I was kidding, but I kind of wasn’t.” He folded his arms across his chest, gazed down at her. “Hope?”

  Hope turned back around, her smile sweet but not hitting her eyes like it used to. “I’m not married anymore,” she said, her tone somber as she told him. “And believe me, you’d be all fists blazing if you met him, I can promise you that.”

  Chase’s fists balled at his sides when he unfolded his arms, his jaw tight as he stared at Hope. They might not have seen each other in years, but they’d been best friends all through college and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, even after all this time. They’d been through a hell of a lot together and it wasn’t just something he could forget.

  “You need me to teach the asshole a lesson?” Chase asked, trying not to grit his teeth as he fum
ed inside.

  “No,” she sighed, attempting a smile that did anything but convince him she was okay. “What I need to do is stop talking about my failed marriage and come see your cattle.”

  Chase watched her long and hard, trying to read her face. She was brave, he knew that already, but something told him that she’d been to hell and back and then some.

  “You want to talk work, let’s go,” he finally said, stepping closer to her and taking a metal kit she was carrying. Hope made a face like she was about to protest, but he took it off her anyway. “You’re not in Canada anymore, sweetheart. You’ve forgotten what good manners southern men have?”

  She laughed, her head tipping back as she walked. “I’ve missed you, Chase. Man, have I missed you.”

  He grinned back at her, wishing it hadn’t been so long since he’d seen her. It had only taken one night to ruin their friendship, and they’d hardly spoken since. She’d been his best friend for years, and now they were as good as strangers, although he could see how easy it’d be to fall back into step like no time had passed at all.

  “So tell me what it’s like working with sperm all day.”

  Hope scowled at him. “You haven’t grown up a bit, have you?”

  “Nope.”

  He matched her stride, not taking his eyes off her. She’d been beautiful back in college and now she was a knockout. Chase glanced around, checked they were alone and Ryder wasn’t about to come ruin their reunion. He’d fucked it up with Hope once, and if he had his chance, he’d make up for every second.

  “So who’s Randy Smith? I have his name on my sheet.”

  “Foreman,” Chase told her. “I had him book and confirm the appointment.”

  “Ah,” she murmured. “Although if I’d looked farther down my chart instead of rushing to get here on time, I’d have noticed the words King Ranch. My bad.”

  He stopped walking, locked his gaze on her when she turned. “Would you have come if you’d known it was me?”