COWBOY ROMANCE: Justin (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 1) (161 page)

Chapter Five

              Shay turned the shop’s door sign from OPEN to CLOSED and shut off the front lights before she went to set the alarm at the back door.  Outside Tom stood leaning against his pick-up and smiling as Jenny chattered with excitement.

“I can’t believe you and Shay were on Montana’s Most Wanted list for almost a whole day,” her assistant gushed.  “I have to get a copy of the flyer to hang in the shop.  It’ll be so outlaw.”

“We are not, and never were, outlaws,” Shay said firmly.  “Now go home and get some rest.  The St. Patrick’s Day sale starts tomorrow, and I plan to sell every yard of green we’ve got.”

“Yes, boss.”  With a wink at Tom Jenny went to unlock her little compact car.

Shay stood beside Tom to watch her drive off.  “You ready to do this?”

“I have another idea.”  He tugged her into his arms and gave her a soft, leisurely kiss.  “Let’s go back to your place.”

“You’ve been living at my place for the last three days.”  Which she had loved, because they’d spent just about every minute of it in her bed.  She and Tom had finally talked out everything, and made plans for their future.  They’d also made love so much they both should have been limping.

“We can do it tomorrow,” Tom told her.

“No.  Pretty soon Ethan will be calling the cops on us.”  She climbed into his pick-up.  “Come on.  It’s like taking medicine.  The sooner you do it, the better you’ll feel.”

Tom grumbled most of the way from the shop to Ghost Lake Ranch.  As soon as they were in sight of his family’s property, he pulled off the road and parked.

He stared at the steering wheel.  “I can’t do this to them, Shay.”

“It’s their ranch, but it’s your life.”  She covered his hand with hers.  “They love you, Tom.  Just be honest with them, and they’ll understand.”

When they reached the big house everyone poured out to greet them.  While she was being passed around for hugs, Shay kept an eye on Tom.  He put on a good show, but worry still lingered tight around his mouth.

“I was about to file a missing person report on you,” Ethan told Tom as they went inside.  “Any more problems with the mess in Helena?”

“After we gave our statements, and Tom turned over the recording to the D.A., we were done.”  Shay made a face.  “Councilman Bramson’s wife stopped by the station to speak with us before we left.  She was in pretty bad shape.” 

Shay glanced around as the family gathered at the big kitchen table, and then met Tom’s gaze.  She knew how wretched he felt about this, but he had the courage to do it.  He just had to get the words out.

She mouthed hers first.  “I love you.”

He nodded, and went to the head of the table.  “I need to tell you all something.” 

Because Tom seldom spoke up, everyone quieted. 

“Shay and I really appreciate you coming to help us up in the city.”  His gaze shifted.  “Liam, I’m sorry you had to take that kill shot.  Not how I wanted it to end.”

“Better than what he had in mind,” his older brother replied.

Tom touched the empty chair in front of him.  “None of us sit here because it was Dad’s place.  We’ve all worked real hard to keep his dream going, too.  I know he’d be proud of us, but he’d also want us to have our dreams, too.”  He took a deep breath before he looked at his oldest brother.  “Ethan, I’m not coming back to the ranch.  I’m moving to town.  I’ll be staying with Shay until I get my own place, and then I’ll be opening up a carpentry shop.”

“You mean, leave for good?  To be a nail-pounder?” Caleb demanded, and then yelped as Chris elbowed him.  “What?  He’s a cowboy, not a shop keeper.”

Jonah looked a little unhappy, too.  “No Boone’s ever had any business except cattle.”

“I’ll always be part of this family,” Tom told him.  “And if you need me here, you just have to pick up the phone.”  He looked at his youngest brother.  “Cal, you know how much I love working with wood, and building furniture, and restoring old things.  This is what I want for me.  This is my dream.”

“Well, then.”  Ethan got to his feet.  “I guess there’s only one thing to do.”  As Tom gave him a wary look he grinned.  “We’ve got to find a great place in town to open this shop.”      

Shay blinked against the sting in her eyes as she rose and went to hug her lover.

              “There is one more thing.”  Tom removed the mini-cam from his pocket and set it on the table.  “I know you didn’t put this in my truck to test it, Caleb.  And you didn’t send me Helena to return ribbon for Jessa, Ethan.”

              Shay frowned.  “They didn’t?”

              Tom eyed Chris.  “Since Shay told me she talked to you about me, this had to be your bright idea.”

              The big man shrugged.  “Thought we’d try, anyway.”  He smiled at Shay.  “We sent Tom to Helena so he could bump into you.”

              Caleb nodded.  “And I put the mini-cam in his truck so we could see you two kissing.”  As Tom took a step toward him, he held up his hands.  “Hey, if not for me you’d be in jail, buddy.”

              Tom turned to Shay.  “I can move in tonight, right?”             

THE END

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***Here is a sample from
Wanted by the Cowboy
, the next Ghost Lake Ranch story!***

Loved by the Cowboy

Love in Ghost Lake Ranch

By: Amber Duval

Loved by the Cowboy

Chapter One

“Okay, two more errands, and we can head back to the ranch,” Liam Boone said.  “I’ll get the wire tacks from the hardware store, and you can grab Jessa’s fabric order.  She said she already paid for it, so you just need to pick it up.” 

Thomas Boone took the order slip Liam handed him, but nearly groaned when he saw the name of the store at the top.  “Want to trade?”

“It’s a quilt shop, Tom, not a minefield.”  His older brother grinned.  “Besides, the owner is the prettiest gal in town.”

Tom glanced down the street.  Spring had finally arrived in Montana, and after the long winter everyone was anxious to get out and about.  He liked seeing the new green grass, and the patches of wildflowers popping up everywhere – but he’d rather walk through a sub-zero blizzard than go into Shay Larabee’s quilt shop.

Liam nudged him.  “What’s the problem?  Don’t tell me it’s Shay.  That girl’s pure sweetheart.”

Tom’s dread climbed another notch.  “You got a thing for her?”

“Sure.  Every man in the county with a pulse does.”  Liam gave him a shrewd look.  “So, what?  That bee you’ve had in your bonnet all winter named Larabee?”

“Nope.”  To avoid more talk Tom climbed out of the pickup, resettled his Stetson over his shaggy black hair and headed across the street.  

QT Quilts, Shay Larabee’s quilt shop, occupied two storefronts in the center of Main Street.  Tiny crystal beads hanging in the big display windows sparkled over waterfalls of brightly colored fabric bolts.  The soft pastel colors of the store’s facade always reminded Tom of the pretty dresses the shop owner liked to wear. 

His ferocious crush on Shay made it hard enough For Tom to see her, but the fact that she owned her own business jabbed at him, too. 

Tom had loved wood-working since he was a boy, and for years had dreamed of opening his own carpentry shop.  But since his parents had been killed he and his six brothers had worked hard, endless hours to keep running Ghost Lake Ranch, the family cattle business.  All of his brothers loved ranch life, too – so how could Tom ever tell them that it wasn’t the life he wanted for himself?    

              Out of the corner of his eye Tom spotted Liam coming out of the hardware store down the street, and forced himself to head into the quilt shop.

Inside the usual gaggle of ladies browsed neatly-stocked shelves and aisles of fabrics, patterns, kits and notions.  Little pots of tea roses on the window sills lent a delicate, sweet scent to the air.  Behind a long cutting table stood a willowy brunette in a rose-colored dress and spotless white apron.  She smiled at an elderly lady as she folded a length of bright red cotton.

“Be sure to prewash it so it doesn’t bleed through your quilt top, Mrs. King.”  Shay Larabee’s doe-brown eyes flashed up as Tom approached.  “Be right with you, Mr. Boone.”

Tom belatedly remembered to remove his hat, and nodded to Ella King as he hovered beside the cutting table.  He liked watching Shay work, as her slim hands moved as gracefully as the rest of her.  He liked watching Shay, period. 

Tom could remember the first time he’d seen her, on the very same day she’d moved to town from Wyoming to take over her aunt’s business.  They’d literally bumped into each other coming and going from the bakery.

“I’m so sorry.”  Shay had looked up at him with those big brown eyes and offered him a donut from her box.  “Here.  A bribe, so you won’t have me run out of town.”

“No need,” Tom assured her, unable to hear anything but his own heartbeat thundering in his ears.  “I’d never do that.” 

That had probably been the last complete sentence he’d ever said to her.  Tom had never been especially easy around girls, but there was something about Shay that set his blood to roaring like a lion and his mouth to closing up as tight as a bear trap.

When Shay sent the elderly woman up to the register with her yardage, she turned and grinned at Tom.  “Okay.  What can I do for you, sir?  Are you hankering for some calico for your next sewing project, or can I interest you in my new line of no-sew fleece?”

Tom knew she was only teasing, but he couldn’t respond with the same.  “Neither, ma’am.”  He could almost feel his tongue tying itself in knots now, so he simply took out Jessa’s order slip and offered it to Shay.       

“Ivory silk and burnout cream velvet – oh, yes, this is that special order for Dr. Cooper.  I think it’s so lovely that she and her mom are going to make her wedding dress.”  Her expression turned curious.  “She’s marrying your brother Ethan, isn’t she?”

“In June, yes, ma’am.”  Tom could feel everyone within earshot watching them now, and turned over the hat in his hands.  “I’m picking it up for her.”

“Well, then, you’re already a very nice brother-in-law.”  Shay sorted through some packages under the cutting table before she produced a large white box tied with a silver ribbon.  “Here it is.  Please let Dr. Cooper if she needs more yardage to call me before Friday.  That’s the day I drive up to Helena to pick up new stock from my distributor.”

Tom nodded and replaced his hat as he took one long, last look at her lovely face.  “Thank you, Ms. Larabee.”

Her full lips curved.  “You’re very welcome, Mr. Boone.”

#

              Shay Larabee’s assistant Jenny came to stand beside her and watch Tom Boone walk out of the shop.

              “That cowboy is so gorgeous,” the little blonde said with a dreamy sigh.  “I’ve never seen eyes like his.  What color are they, anyway?”

“Violet blue,” Shay murmured absently.  She could still smell the sandalwood he left in his wake.  Too subtle to be cologne, so she felt pretty sure it was from the soap he used.  “He’s not dating anyone, is he?”

              The unofficial hub of all town gossip, Jenny made a quick negative sound.  “Tom Boone doesn’t date much at all.  When he does it’s a certain kind of gal.  One who likes roadhouses, pool tables and horizontal good times, if you know what I mean.”

              “Well, he’s a man, not a monk.”  Shay rubbed the back of her neck.  “So which roadhouses does he go to?”

              “I knew it.”  Jenny uttered a small shriek and tugged her back into the storage room.  “Admit it.  You have a thing for Tom Boone.”

              “I would
like
to have a thing,” Shay corrected.  “But whenever I see him, he barely says a word to me.”

              “He always kept to himself when we were kids.”  Her assistant grew thoughtful.  “He was small for a while, too, the way some boys are.  He got picked on because of it, but his brothers put a stop to that.”

Shay mentally sketched Tom Boone’s body in her mind for the thousandth time.  “He’s not small now.”

“Yeah, it was quick with him.  One summer he shot up and filled out, and suddenly girls were tripping over each other to get to him.”  Jenny sighed.  “But that was the year his folks were killed.  I remember he was real close to his dad.”

              Shay regarded the younger woman.  “Is there anything you don’t know, girl?”

              “I don’t know why you’re hankering for Tom Boone.  You could crook your finger and every bachelor in this town would stampede in here after you,” Jenny told her.  “Some of the married men would sneak on in, too.”

              “I’m curious, that’s all.”  And frustrated, and lonely, Shay tagged on in her head.  But what was the point of yearning for a man who so obviously didn’t want to be near her?  “Come on, let’s get back to work.”

For the rest of the morning Shay’s thoughts kept straying back to Tom Boone, however, and his solemn violet eyes.  She’d never known a single man with such striking coloring, nor one who smelled so good.  When he did speak, Tom’s husky voice always moved along her spine like an invisible caress.  She’d never had a reason to touch him, but that was okay. Shay suspected putting hands on that cowboy would reduce her to a puddle of helpless, lovesick goo.

When she took her noon break Shay decided to go to her favorite café for lunch.  After walking in she saw one of Tom’s brothers having coffee by himself, and stopped by his table.

“Hi, you’re Becca’s husband right?”  She held out her hand.  “Shay Larabee.  Call me Shay, please.”

“Chris.  Nice to meet you.”  The biggest of the Boone brothers politely rose to his feet before he gently shook her hand with his massive paw.  “Rebecca Rose has told me how much she’s enjoyed that quilting class she’s taking at your shop.”

“She has a great eye for color.”  Shay thought it was charming how Chris referred to his wife by both her names.  “Would you mind if I join you for a minute?  I need some advice about one of your brothers.”

“Absolutely.”  The big man scowled.  “I hope Caleb hasn’t been a nuisance.  If he has, I’ll kill him for you.”

Shay chuckled.  “I haven’t met Caleb yet,” she admitted.  “Actually it’s Tom.  He came by my shop this morning.”

“Tom?  In a quilt shop?”  Now Chris looked shocked.  “Was someone holding him gunpoint?”

“He was picking up an order for Dr. Cooper.”  She sat back.  “He won’t talk to me.  Does he hate quilts?  Or is it me?”

The big man rasped a hand along his jaw.  “Tom’s not much of talker, but he doesn’t hate anything, except maybe shoveling manure.  I think it’s probably more nerves.  Tom’s very shy.”

“Really?”  She’d never considered that.

Chris nodded.  “It was tough on him, being the smallest of seven brothers, and a late bloomer to boot.  His body grew out of it, but I don’t think his head ever did.  Don’t give up on him, Shay.  Tom’s a good guy.”

“He is.  Just wish I could coax more than two words out of him.”  Feeling a little embarrassed now, she got up.  “Thanks, Chris.”

As Shay walked over to the counter, she glanced back and saw a strange smile spread across Chris Boone’s broad face.