Healing a Cowboy's Heart (Cowboy Dreamin' 2) (2 page)

Copyright ©
2013

Chapter One

“What
the hell?” Jeffery Young slammed on the brakes and pulled his beat up Chevy
truck over to the side of the road.

“Where
we goin’, Daddy?”

“To
the south pasture, but I need to figure out what these people are doin’ on our
land, buddy. You stay here.” He hopped out of the truck but left it running to
keep it cool in the interior for his son. Three-year-old Ben loved to go with
his dad on ranch business. Even though summer had officially come to an end,
the days still got hot in Bandera, Texas. Today they’d planned to check on the
water trough in the south pasture. He needed to patch it before winter set in.

“Okay,”
Ben said, swinging his small booted feet.

Jeff
hopped out of the truck, slamming the door behind him. “Who the hell are you?
What are you doin’ on Thunder Ridge land?”

A
petite blonde stood next to a larger guy he recognized from the land surveyors
office in town. He noticed right away how her hair caught the sunlight,
bouncing it off the curls when she turned to face him. Green eyes the color of
spring grass gazed at him behind the small round glasses perched on her nose.

“Excuse
me?”

“What
are you doin’ on my land?”

“Surveying.
What does it look like?”

The
woman sounded way too damned perky for his taste. “Who are you?” He turned to
face the man from town. “George, what’s goin’ on here?”

“We’re
doin’ a land survey, Jeff.” George motioned to the woman next to him. “This
here is Terri Kennedy.”

“Nice
to meet you.”
She held out her hand, but he ignored it
with a scowl.

“No
one ordered a survey of our land. You don’t need to be on our property.”

“It’s
not for Thunder Ridge. It’s for the new development.” George looked
uncomfortable as he shifted back and forth on his feet.

“Get
the hell off my property,” Jeff snarled. “We ain’t
supportin
’
the developers takin’ over the ranch land out here.”

“We
have a right to use this road to survey the property boundaries. It’s a county
road.”

“Not
as long as you’re off the blacktop, it ain’t. It’s Young property.”

“Is
he correct, Mr. Scott? Is this private property beyond the blacktop?”

“Yes,
ma’am.”

“Well
then, we shall move to the blacktop area.” She stomped her booted feet as she
moved twenty feet up the road. Her curvy little ass bounced with each step,
emphasizing the cute roundness much to his chagrin. “Now, we can continue where
we left off. I’m sure you can make the adjustments to the measurements.”

“Yes,
ma’am.”

The
little smirk on her kissable lips drove his anger higher. He didn’t want to
notice anything about the woman, but here he stood watching everything about
her. “Fuck.”

“Did
you say something?”

“No,
ma’am.
Get your business done and get off this road.”

“You
know you don’t have to be so surly. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m here as
the architect for Meyer, Jessup and Cole.”

Jeff
moved closer. Something about her pissed him off. Was it the development or her
in general? He didn’t care. She needed to leave and leave fast.
“Whoever they are.”

“They
are the firm handling the land development in this area.”

“We
don’t want a damn development here. We have plenty of problems with not enough
open land for the wildlife around here. Having houses will take away the
natural habitat.”

“I’m
sorry, sir, but there isn’t anything I can do about it. I’m only here to make
sure the surrounding property the developers bought will be able to handle the
architecture they are planning to build.”

“Just
get done and get out of here. If you ain’t gone before I get back, I’ll have you
arrested for
trespassin
’.”

“Try
it, buddy! We aren’t on your property now.”

“You
were
lady,” he growled, spinning on
his booted heel and heading back to his truck. “Damn
infuriatin
’
woman. Who the hell does she think she is? This is our property. She doesn’t
belong out here in her fancy shit-kickers, her designer jeans or her fancy
western shirt. Like her outfit would make her fit in. Ha!”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah,
buddy?” he asked, trying to calm his temper. The last thing he wanted was Ben
thinking he’d gotten pissed off at him. His mother did enough damage when she
had him to last a fucking lifetime.

“How
come we missed the cake at Grandma’s? I wanted cake.”

“We’ll
get some when we get back, okay? I didn’t think a wedding reception was a good
place for you.” It wasn’t the whole truth and he knew it. He’d taken the easy
way out of watching Joel and Mesa cut their cake. The wedding was beautiful,
but he just didn’t want to see his brother happily simpering over his new bride
when his bitch of an ex-wife didn’t even spend their wedding night with him.
She went off with her friends, got drunk and disappeared for two days while he
frantically tried to find her. He should have known from day one what kind of
life they would have, but he didn’t want to realize she wanted only his
family’s name and the prestige of the ranchland they owned. “Grandma will save
you some, I’m sure.”

“Okay.”

He
glanced at his pride and joy. Even if he hated his ex, at least she’d given him
Ben. He loved the kid with everything in his heart. His boy was turning into a
miniature of himself from the tip of his straw cowboy hat to the belt buckle he
insisted on wearing. The kid was cowboy to the bone. No doubt about it. Not
like he had much choice since all eight of his uncles were cowboys and so was
his granddad. They ran Thunder Ridge Cattle Ranch including the small dude
ranch they’d turned the place into to supplement their income.

He
took his job of feeding his pony to heart too. Every morning they went out to
the corral behind the main house, fed and watered the small horse before any
other chores were done.

“Let’s
get this done then so we can go back for the cake.”

“Yep.”

Jeff
glanced in the rearview mirror only to catch the woman watching him pull on
down the road.

* * * *

Terri
shielded her eyes from the glaring sun as she watched the man slowly pull down
the road. She noticed his long, lean frame when he’d climbed out of the cab of
his dirty, old truck. He definitely had cowboy down to an art from the top of
his cowboy hat to the tip of his dirty boots. She could tell he was the real
deal unlike the men she knew in Houston. Even though Houston was smack dab in
the middle of cowboy country, most men she dated weren’t cowboys. They were strictly
corporate types—suits, ties and penny loafers.

Too
bad she couldn’t see his eyes. You could tell a lot about a man by his eyes.

Oh
well, he’d been so pissed off at her being there, it’s not like he would have
looked twice at her anyway. She glanced down at her outfit. The new jeans,
western shirt and pointed toe cowboy boots looked cute this morning when she’d
put them on, but up against his tattered jeans, plain blue T-shirt and worn
boots, she looked like a city slicker. Not something she wanted. She needed to
fit in according to her clients. She had to rethink her clothing choices
apparently.

Getting
in with the locals was a priority. She needed information on the water levels,
plants, wildlife and other pieces of the puzzle to be able to put together the
plans for the housing development, and who better to get it from than one of
the local cowboys.

She
looked at George wondering whether she could get the information from him. Nah,
he seemed like a nice enough
guy
, but he wouldn’t have
the ins and outs knowledge of a cowboy.
Hmm.
Maybe she
could stay at one of the local dude ranches and pick the brains of the
wranglers. Yeah. Sounded like a good idea to her.

“Hey,
George.
I know there are several dude ranches around here.
Which one do you think is the best?”

“Thunder
Ridge.”

“Like
the one that belongs to the cowboy who just chased us off his land?”

“Yep.”
George spit tobacco juice several feet away.

Totally gross!

“It’s
the nicest in the area. They have a great main
lodge,
meals are included,
swimmin
’ pool. You name it. They
got it. The small little guest cabins are the best, although I hear there are
ghosts in the main lodge.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”
He scratched his chin. “One of the boys just got married this weekend to a city
gal from Los Angeles.”

“Boys?”

“
There’s
nine of them out there, including Jeff who you just
sort of met. He’s kind of testy, that one.
Doesn’t take
kindly to strangers on their property.
He’s been very vocal about
hatin
’ the land developers
buyin
’
up the property out here.”

“I
gathered that.”

“He’s
got a real piss pour attitude about him these days. ‘Course with his ex
bein
’ such a bitch, I can certainly see why.”

“Hmm.”

“You
could do worse than goin’ out there for a few days if you’re thinkin’ along
them
lines.”

“I
was, yes. I need more information.”

“Get
in good with one of them boys and you’ll have everythin’ you need. The family
has been here for a long time. Those boys grew up here. No one knows the land
like they do.”

“Thank
you for the information, George. You’ve been a big help.” She glanced at the
sun making a slow decent into the evening sky. “Are we about done here?”

“Yes,
ma’am.
Just figuring up the last of it.
I’ll get the stakes posted tomorrow so you all know where to cut the parcels.”

“Thank
you. You’ve been a huge help.”

“You’re
welcome, ma’am.”

George
packed up his gear a few moments later before they headed to where his survey
truck sat on the side of the road.

Oops
.
They hadn’t moved the truck. It still sat on Young property.
She
snerked
.
I
should have George put one of the survey stakes right there since it’s on the
dirt road. Really piss off Mr. Jeff Young, the jerk.

She
could see dust billowing in the distance. “We’d better get out of here. I think
our non-hospitable company is coming back. I don’t know about you, but I don’t
want to end up in jail.”

“Jeff
is a lot of talk. He wouldn’t call the cops since he doesn’t want to have to
deal with the sheriff.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.
The sheriff is who his ex cheated on him with. They don’t have much to do with
each other if they can avoid it.”

“Oh.
I can see why he wouldn’t.”

“Yep,
but we should be goin’ anyway. You don’t want to rile the Young family. You
could use them on your side if you’re set on
puttin
’
in them houses you’re
plannin
’.”

“Thanks.
Let’s get out of here, then.”

George
started the truck just as Jeff pulled alongside his vehicle, slowing down to
glare at them from inside his own.

Damn, the man is a jerk! What an
ass!

George
rolled down the window when Jeff rolled down the passenger window of his. “We
was just
leavin
’, Jeff.”

“See
that you do, George. I don’t wanna see her back out here.”

Terri
saw a cute little boy wave from the passenger seat and she waved back.
“Cute boy.”

Jeff
glared before gunning his truck, fishtailing slightly until the truck found
pavement.

“Is
he always so personable?”

George
chuckled.
“Yep.
Wait until you get to know him a
little better. It’s even worse when you’re close to him. He’s always gettin’
into fights with his brothers over somethin’.”

“Sounds
like a charming family.”

“Oh,
they’re nice enough, especially Nina. She’s his momma. Nice lady. Her sister
works at the diner in town. Ann. She’s sweet too. They just don’t want to roll
with the times. I’m surprised the ranch started takin’ guests.”

“Why’s
that?”

“They
run cattle.
Longhorns and beef cattle.
Angus, I think.
They’re kind of stuck in the past, but I think they are working towards
keepin
’ things more modern even though Jeff would live on
the cattle alone. Unfortunately, beef prices have fallen on tough times over
the last several years.”