The Ranger's Rodeo Rebel (16 page)

“Did he hurt you there?” he asked.

It took her a moment to understand what he meant. “Yes.”

He kissed the spot again. “I'm sorry.”

It was all she could do not to cry.

I love you.

The words were right there, on the edge of her tongue, but she couldn't say them. Not when he laid her down on the bed. Not when he kissed every spot that James had bruised, including her heart. Not later, when they were done and he held her.

I love you.

If only the words would make him stay.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chance's flight departed at three on a Sunday afternoon. Caro knew that because, unbeknownst to him, she'd driven to the airport, parked at the end of the runway and watched his plane leave the ground, tears in her eyes.

“It's for the best,” she kept telling herself. The military was Chance's life. No, she quickly amended, protecting people was his life. Nothing would stop him from doing that. Not his family. Not her. Not anyone.

“You look like death,” Colt said when she showed up for work. Caro had burrowed beneath a heavy sweatshirt. They'd never gone back to the way it'd been before, when all she'd done was ride for Colt on the weekends. Colt had insisted she stay on, and Caro had said yes. It beat waitressing over the winter, which was how she usually supported herself. But even she was surprised when he'd offered her the apartment as part of her salary. It was a godsend, and she knew how lucky she was.

“Just tired,” she said.

“Well, get ready. You're going to be even more tired. My sister's going a little crazy with this whole wedding deal. She's already done a site map. She told me she'd be over tomorrow to figure out where they're going to put everything.”

The wedding. Once it had seemed distant, far in the future, but it was only weeks away. Christmas. A time for celebrating and new beginnings. For family and friendship. She should be grateful to be included as a member of the Reynolds clan, even if she wasn't. Not really.

She had hoped.

But she refused to dwell. Losing Chance had left her numb, and she needed something, anything, to keep her occupied.

“Tell me what I can do to help,” she said, forcing a smile, but her boss didn't reply. He stared down at her, concern in his eyes.

“Did you tell him you loved him?”

She thought she'd misheard him. “What?”

“My brother. Does he know you're in love with him?”

She didn't know what to say. Didn't know what to do. She could deny it, but Colt and Natalie had been so kind. She couldn't lie to them. Not now. Not ever.

“I don't think so,” she said softly, looking at the ground. It was hard to look at Colt. He reminded her so much of Chance.

“You should have told him.”

She took a deep breath. “I did, in a way.”

Colt shook his head. “Idiot.”

She didn't know if he referred to her or to Chance.

“My brother's never been one for seeing what's right in front of his face.”

It was Chance he talked about, then. Phew.

“In high school, Harriet Peterson had the biggest crush on him. Everyone in school knew it, but not Chance. He was too busy riding horses, hunting squirrels or riding broncs. Clueless.”

“Please don't tell him.”

“I won't.”

She grabbed a rake. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was painful enough without discussing the matter with Chance's brother.

True to his word, Colt and Claire kept her busy. The wedding promised to be a big deal with several A-list celebrities attending. Of course, Chance wouldn't be there. He'd promised to try, but since he'd just started his new job, he didn't think he'd be able to make it.

“That's my brother for you,” Claire said a week before the wedding. They were in Natalie's family room, putting together wedding decorations. Caro had decided she stunk at using a glue gun, but that didn't stop her from trying to stick together twigs that would hopefully look like a tree. They planned to place the tree in the center of a table and hang tiny pictures of Claire and Ethan on the branches. “You never know when he's going to show up, or
if
he'll show up.”

Caro didn't know what she would do if he did. Probably run in the other direction. Since he'd left, her feelings hadn't changed one bit, especially since he'd been true to his word. He stayed in touch. She received regular updates from him, always chatty, always upbeat, never personal. That was okay. She didn't want personal. Personal caused pain, and she'd already had enough of that in her life.

“Do you think you can get me more twigs?” Claire said. “I put a pile of them on the front stoop.”

Caro nodded and headed for the front door. She was looking down, which was why she didn't immediately see him.

See
him
.

Chance.

At first, she thought she was seeing things and it was really Colt standing there. They looked so much alike. But no. It wasn't Colt. It was Chance. She couldn't breathe.

“Hello, Caro.”

His voice. She'd forgotten how it sounded. So deep. So masculine. So...Chance.

“You're here.” Stupid thing to say, but she couldn't think, couldn't do anything but stand stiffly.

“I'm here,” he echoed.

She swallowed. “Claire will be so happy.”

“Claire already knows.”

Once again, she felt incapable of forming a response. “She knows?” she parroted back.

“I told her I was coming.”

“But she just said—”

She straightened suddenly, realizing she'd been set up. In typical Reynolds fashion they'd orchestrated Chance's homecoming so she would walk outside right as he was arriving.

Why?

“Aren't you going to give me a kiss hello?”

And she saw it then. The crooked smile, the twinkle in his green eyes.

“Well, I don't know.” She headed down the steps, stopping just in front of him. “That depends.”

“On what?”

He looked so good. More tan. Fitter, if that were possible. And tired. As if he'd flown thousands of miles to be there, standing in front of her. And maybe he had.

“It depends on if you're here to stay or not.” She inhaled deeply before taking the plunge. “Because I can't do it again, Chance. I can't watch you leave. The first time nearly killed me.”

His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I know.”

And then he was there, in front of her, and his arms were wrapping around her and she knew it wasn't a dream. Somehow he was there and he loved her. She saw it in his eyes just before he bent his head and kissed her.

“Caro,” he said softly, a long while later, drawing back and resting his chin on her head. “If only you knew how much I missed this.”

Her eyes burned. She still couldn't believe it was true.

“I knew the moment my plane took off that I'd made a mistake, but I couldn't bail. I had an obligation, so I stuck it out until they could find a replacement.”

She started to weep softly, because it was like a dream. A really great dream where he said all the things she'd hoped he would.

“I told them I had to be back in time for my sister's wedding because there was this girl, and she would be there and I had a question to ask her.”

She ducked her head, for some reason ashamed of her tears. He tipped her head back.

“Carolina Cruthers, I love you.”

She tried to duck her head again, but he wouldn't let her. Her eyes blurred with tears and she sobbed, though she tried hard not to. She wanted to see him clearly, to memorize the look in his eyes.

“I've been such a fool, Caro. I was afraid to start a new life. To let go of the familiar. To be with my real family.”

His lips brushed hers. She opened eyes she hadn't known she'd closed.

“You,” he said softly, gently.

And then he kissed her again and she kissed him back, letting him know without words that she loved him, and when a long while later, he stepped back and pulled a ring from his pocket, she started crying again, especially when he bent down on one knee and, in front of all the people who mattered—Claire and Ethan and Adam, Natalie and Weston and Colt, even the Galloping Girlz, who materialized out of nowhere—asked her to marry him.

“Yes,” she sobbed. “Of course, yes.”

He slipped the ring on her finger and then pulled her to him as she murmured, “I love you,” to him for the first time in her life.

The first of many times.

Epilogue

There were three rules of a Christmas wedding. One, it must snow, even if the wedding was in California at an elevation that rarely, if ever, saw snow. Two, the bridesmaids must wear red, even if one of those bridesmaids insisted she never looked good in red, although that same bridesmaid was quite pleased with her breast-feeding boobies. Three, the bride and groom needed to arrive at the wedding in a horse-drawn wagon, jingle bells clanging, red ribbons waving, wedding guests smiling.

All three rules were honored at the wedding of Claire Reynolds and Ethan McCall. The best man, a little boy named Adam, beamed the whole time. The groomsmen, of which there were two, also beamed, although Claire's brothers insisted they outshone the bride. They maintained that brothers were allowed to tease a sister, even on that sister's wedding day.

There was another, lesser known rule: engaged couples were allowed to kiss as often as they liked. This was, perhaps, Chance Reynolds's favorite rule, and one he never broke.

“You're going to make my lips fall off,” Caro teased as Chance rocked her back and forth on the dance floor. “I swear you've kissed me more times tonight than you have the whole time we've been together.”

Chance's eyes glittered. “That's because you look exceptionally beautiful tonight in your red stripper gown.”

She laughed. She couldn't help it. “You better not let Claire hear you say that. She loves this color.”

Her future husband smiled. “Yes, but my sister-in-law does not. I heard she might pretend to like it, but Natalie is sublimely self-aware of how it hugs her every curve. Colt said she's embarrassed.”

Claire glanced in Colt and Natalie's direction. “But she looks so sexy in it.”

Beneath the roof of the covered arena, which had been cleared of jumps and turned into a huge ballroom, Chance pulled her closer.

“Not as sexy as you.” He lowered his head. “I swear I'm going to enjoy peeling every inch of this dress off your body tonight.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” she gently chided. “Not until we're married.”

They'd set a date in the spring, before the start of rodeo season. Chance would be taking over his brother's business, at least for now, because ever since he'd quit working for DTS, job offers had been piling in. He was presently considering four different positions: head of security for a big internet firm; ranch manager of the soon-to-be-built Dark Horse Ranch, where veterans could be treated for PTSD and would be conveniently located next door; and her favorite, personal bodyguard to the stars. The latter offer had come in from family friend Rand Jefferson, the A-lister who'd married former Galloping Girl Samantha. But the one he was actually considering, Chance's favorite of the offers he'd received so far, was working for the sheriff's department alongside Officer Connelly. Who would have thought?

“You keep saying that,” Chance said, “but I have high hopes to convince you otherwise.” He wagged his eyebrows.

She playfully batted his arm. “Good luck with that, soldier.”

“You guys, look!”

They both turned toward Adam, who skillfully navigated the crowded dance floor with Inga up on her hind legs. Or maybe it was Bella, Natalie's dog. It was hard to tell beneath an arena full of Christmas lights. Either way, the dog had a big red bow around her neck. She looked clearly puzzled by this new human ritual. When the dog looked into Caro's eyes, she knew it was Inga.

“Poor thing,” Chance said.

Caro laughed. “She better get used to it. Once we have kids, all bets are off.”

She glanced up to see the glint in his eyes. She knew he was thinking back to the day in the hospital when he'd held his nephew for the first time. She'd seen the same look on his face then. Longing. Happiness. Belonging.

“Soon enough,” she said softly.

“Yes. Soon,” he echoed, because they weren't going to wait. Once they were married, they would try to get pregnant right away. Caro vowed that she would bring their children up in a completely different way than her own upbringing. Chance had vowed the same thing. Perhaps between the two of them, two previously damaged people could make good parents. She knew they would.

He kissed her again, and she didn't have the heart to tease him anymore. She loved him. Heart and soul. She didn't know what she'd done to deserve him, but now that she had him, she would never let him go.

“Hey, hey,” said the bride as she danced by on her groom's arm, her smile bright enough to light the room. “Save it for later.”

Ethan laughed gently as he whisked Claire by the two of them. Colt and Natalie twirled by next, Colt pasting a lascivious grin on his face as he pretended to gawk at his wife's magnificent cleavage. Everyone laughed. Caro and Chance. Samantha and her famous husband, Rand. Wes and Jillian. Mariah and Zach. So many friends. So much love in the room. Caro didn't think her heart could ever be as full.

Once upon a time, she'd dreamed of being part of the Reynolds family. Back then she would have never imagined that her dream could come true. So many things had gone wrong in her life, starting with her childhood and ending with James. But one thing had gone right, and it was the most important thing. She'd found the man of her dreams.

Three months later, as she and Chance said their wedding vows, Carolina knew a joy like no other. It was a day of celebration. Adam had been officially declared cancer free. Claire and Ethan had learned they were pregnant, a feat Chance vowed to replicate, soon.

And as they danced at their own wedding, this time by the pond that was really more like a lake, in the spot where Chance had declared he would build his own small family a home, Caro realized she'd been wrong.

It was possible to feel as if your heart might burst with love. That same feeling could happen again and again. And it did. Through the birth of children, more weddings, more children and all the things that life brought the two of them. And though their lives were full of the inevitable ups and downs, they loved each other.

And that was the most important rule of all.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
THE TROUBLE WITH COWGIRLS
by Amanda Renee.

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