For Love of a Cowboy (15 page)

He still couldn’t quite believe it. At what point, he’d wondered, had life changed and he hadn’t even noticed? Had he been harboring his anger and resentment, stoking it for so long, that he’d lost sight of when things had improved between him and the man he’d always believed barely tolerated him?

Then Ness had called him late last night, sad but resigned to the news she’d imparted. Willow was leaving town. He’d expected it but it had still punched a hole in his chest when Ness had told him. Even then, words had failed him—as they so often did. He was a man of action. Preferring to
do
, rather than talk about it. Which left him with a decision to make. Booth paced his room at the bunkhouse weighing his options. There was only one. He shoved his hat on his head, grabbed his keys and headed out to his truck. This had to be done face to face. He pulled up outside the shop just in time to see Ness flip the sign in the front door to “Open.” It only took him a minute to get inside.

“I need to talk to her.”

Ness didn’t ask who he meant, she just shook her head and said softly, “You’re too late. She’s gone. And she left this for you.”

She handed him an envelope. Inside it was a wad of money. “Where the hell did she get this from?”

“Her inheritance from her mom and selling her yarn. She kept it back so she could pay for the repairs to her VW.”

“But,” he feathered the bundle of used notes, “this must be every dollar she had.”

“Probably,” Ness shrugged. “Either way, it’s yours. She said she owed you.”

“She owes me squat. How long ago did she leave?”

“About ten minutes before you pulled up outside. I’m surprised you didn’t pass her on the way into town. She said she was headed toward Livingston and then she’d toss a coin as to whether she headed east or west.”

Toss a coin? How like his hippie to do something like that. But ten minutes? With his truck he could certainly catch up to her decrepit old VW. He shoved the envelope in his pocket and headed for the door.

“Booth!” Ness called, halting him in his tracks.

Impatiently he turned around. “What?”

“Here.” She unclipped the silver chain she wore around her neck, the one with the tiny silver acorn hanging from it. “If you catch her, give her this.”

“This was Mom’s,” he said, accepting the necklace from her and closing his fingers around it.

“Remember what she said when we asked her about it?”

He nodded. “Not that it did her any good.”

“She made her choices, Booth. It’s up to us to make ours. Now go. Willow said she was stopping at Dillon’s to get gas on her way out. She can’t be that far ahead yet. Good luck,” she smiled. “You’re going to need it.”

“I know.”

He pressed his foot to the accelerator, laying a trail of rubber as he pulled away from the curb and did a U-turn in the middle of the street. He had to reach Willow before she got to Livingston. If she got there before he did, he only had a fifty-fifty chance of following in the right direction. He’d gone about five miles when he caught a glimpse of a faded yellow van trundling along the road ahead of him. He pushed the truck a little faster, coming up behind her and flashing his lights and sounding his horn.

In response, a slender arm came out of the window, hand raised up in a partial fist and flipping him the bird. She didn’t slow her pace.

“So, you want to play it that way,” he said under his breath. “Fine, I’m up for that.”

He pulled out to pass her and floored the accelerator, creating a longer distance between them. Then, as soon as he could he performed another U-turn, swung over into the left lane, rolled to a stop and got out of the truck. It was a risky maneuver but when something was as important as this, a man had to take a gamble. A moment later the VW came around the corner. She saw him standing directly before her almost immediately. Through the windscreen he saw her mouth form an “O” of surprise as she braked hard and came to a halt a yard in front of him.

She was out of the van in seconds, her long lean legs exposed by those impossible shorts of hers, her unfettered breasts bouncing a little as she slammed the door and stomped toward him. He couldn’t see her eyes behind the wire rimmed sunglasses perched on her nose but he’d bet they were shooting flames in his direction about now. Booth took in a deep breath, planted his feet shoulder width apart and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He’d take whatever she had to throw at him and then, with any luck, she’d listen.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Have you lost your mind? You could have killed me!” Willow shouted as she met him toe to toe.

“We need to talk.”

“And this is how you do it? Bloody hell! You scared the living daylights out of me.”

She swiped the sunglasses off her face and yep, sure enough, those pretty blue eyes of hers sparked with fury. But beneath her eyes were dark circles and he could see the lines of strain that drew her lightly tanned skin tight across her face.

“You were leaving without saying goodbye,” he said, schooling his features into an implacable shield.

“And you think you deserved a sweet farewell. Well, crap. I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “Goodbye. There, can you get the heck out of my way now?”

“Not good enough,” he said steadily. “Where are you going?”

“It’s none of your business where I go. I’m leaving. You should be kicking your heels with joy over that, right? I’m showing my true colors and leaving Ness in the lurch, although, to my credit, I haven’t emptied her cash register and I
am
driving on the right side of the road. Which is more than I can say for you!” She emphasized her point with a finger poked firmly at his chest.

Booth fought to articulate all the things he wanted to say but they remained stuck firmly in his throat. Eventually he came out with the one word that encapsulated everything.

“Stay.”

“What? Are you mad? I don’t believe you.” She threw her hands up in the air and uttered a harsh laugh. “From the minute you saw me you’ve been trying to keep me away from Marietta and when that didn’t work you did everything you could to make me leave. So, I’m leaving. In fact, I’ve already left. Besides, the one thing that might have made me stay there, the one reason I came in the first place, doesn’t exist.”

“You grew up without your father, you’re an adult now. Why was it so important to you to find him?”

She shoved her glasses back on her face and bit at her bottom lip. A lip that begun to quiver. “It’s personal,” she eventually said.

“Hey, you’re leaving. So tell me. It’s not as if it’ll make any difference to you, right?”

She stared at him a full minute without speaking, then took an envelope out of her pocket—one he recognized from when he’d picked it up off the road for her the day she’d arrived in Marietta.

“It’s this. My results.”

“Results for what?”

“My BRCA gene tests.”

Realization dawned. Given their mother’s history, Ness had chosen to undergo similar tests before she and Rob had married. He knew exactly what those tests could mean.

“And do you have it? The gene?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He couldn’t help it, he raised his voice and regretted it the moment he saw her flinch and move away. He forced himself to calm down. “Willow, I’m sorry. Please, tell me. Why don’t you know?”

“Because I haven’t opened them yet. I doubt you’d understand but I’m alone in the world. I literally have no one. I didn’t want to face what this had to say by myself. I wanted—no, I
needed
to know I had someone in my corner. Someone who’d stand beside me whatever the result.”

“So what now?”

She stuffed the envelope back into her pocket. “I’m going to keep thinking about it, maybe do a bit more travel before I decide if I really want to know, or if even knowing will make a difference anymore.”

“Of course it will make a difference,” Booth argued.

“Not to me. Not now.”

“You’re giving up then. Running away from life.”

Willow shook her head in denial. “I’m not giving up.”

“Looks like it.”

“What would you know about it?” she demanded.

“Everything.” He reached out and gently gripped her arms with both hands. “I haven’t been where you’re standing now, but I’ve been damn close. You’re afraid, and that’s okay. But you have to tackle that fear head on, wrestle it to the ground if you have to—then learn how to deal with it. To
live
with it.”

“I’m not ready to do that. I thought I could do it if I had someone by my side, but I don’t.”

And here it was. The moment where he had to take a leap and put himself out there in the line of being hurt—of loving and of losing. Booth took a deep breath.

“You have me.”

“You? Why? Why would you do that? You don’t even like me.” Willow stared at him in shock.

“I stopped liking you a while back, it’s true.”

The tiny kernel of anticipation that had begun to come to life at his offer shriveled and died. She had no words left to say. She just wanted to get in Daisy and go—somewhere,
anywhere
—and try to forget this man blocking her path. But he had more to say and even though she tried to tug free of his hold, he wouldn’t let go.

“Willow, I stopped liking you about the time I realized I love you. I tell you, admitting that to you, hell, even to myself, scares the ever-loving shit out of me but I’m not going to stand idly by and watch you leave.”

“You…you love me?”

“And I’m asking you to give me another chance. No, I’m begging you. Stay; let me stand beside you through whatever you have to face. And if you don’t want to stay here, I’ll go with you wherever you want to go. Whatever it takes, Willow. I’m yours. Do you love me?”

“Of course I do. I didn’t want to but I can’t help loving you, Booth. But I drive you crazy with my superstitions and everything. Why would you walk away from everything you have here and do that for me?”

“Because you mean everything to me. I have a bit saved up—we can travel for as long as you want, as long as we do it together.”

“But isn’t that for your ranch?”

He shook his head. “Things changed. Uncle Kyle is leaving me the KD. But you’re more important to me. What’s the point in holding onto all of that when I have no one else to share it with? When I wouldn’t have you?”

Willow lifted a trembling hand to his mouth and pressed her fingers against his lips. “Stop,” she said, her voice breaking. “You can’t do this. You can’t walk away from everything that ever meant anything to you for me. It just doesn’t make sense.”

He kissed her fingers, sending a spiral of longing through her. Longing to take a chance on him, to believe what he said. To hope anew.

“Makes perfect sense to me,” he said.

“But what if I have the gene, Booth? I have to decide what I’m going to do about it. Whether I’m going to lose my breasts, my ovaries—any chance to have children.”

“If it means you’ll live, then it’s the right thing to do.”

“And you’d walk away from everything? Your family, your past, even your future on the ranch, for me?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

Warmth unfurled in her chest, sending tendrils along her veins to melt the frozen emptiness that had taken residence inside her yesterday.

“I guess I had better see what’s inside the envelope then,” she said, her voice husky with emotion.

“You want to do that here?”

“It’s as good a place as any.”

Booth let her go and reached one hand deep into the pocket of his jeans. “Before you open it, I’d like you to wear this.”

Willow recognized it straight away. “That’s Ness’s necklace. Why—?”

“She wanted you to have it. It was our mother’s.” He put the chain around her neck and did it up for her, letting the acorn slide between her breasts.

She fingered the silver nut. “Acorns are supposed to bring luck and ensure a long life.”

“So they say.”

Willow looked in his eyes, finding in them a reassurance she was far from feeling herself.

“For someone who’s not superstitious, you sure know how to use superstition to your advantage.”

She pulled the envelope from her pocket once more. Slid her finger under the flap and tore it open. Her hands were shaking as she extracted the letter inside. She unfolded the single sheet of paper and started to read. Negative. The results were
negative
!

She looked up into Booth’s face and smiled. “I’m okay. I’m going to be okay.”

His face broke into a smile and he gave a loud whoop before picking her up and spinning her around and around until they were both dizzy.

“Let’s go home,” he said. “To our future.”

For love of a cowboy,
her
cowboy, she could do that now. While she knew, with her family history, she’d still have to be vigilant, for now the future stretched before her—bright and filled with promise. Willow’s cheeks were wet with tears, happy tears this time as she looked into his eyes and said one simple word. “Yes.”

The End

The Big Marietta Fair Series

If you enjoyed
For Love of a Cowboy
, you’ll love the other Big Marietta Fair series novellas!

Beauty and the Cowboy
by Nancy Thompson

Available now

Cowgirl Come Home
by Debra Salonen

Available now

For Love of a Cowboy
by Yvonne Lindsay

Her Summer Cowboy
by Katharine Garbera

Coming August 2014

Cowboy Crush
by Bronwyn Jameson

Coming August 2014

A Fair to Remember
by Barbara Ankrum

Coming August 2014