Kissed by a Cowboy (3 page)

"Oh. So you have to travel a lot?"

"Yeah, a few days at a time. The farm's doing
good though." If he could just keep ahead of his creditors. "Since
Katie and my mom passed, it's just been me, Justin, and
Olivia."

He tapped his hat against his leg. Nervous.
And rambling. But seeing her again, after all this time... all his
feelings came rushing back, like they'd been jostled loose by the
vibrations of the combine.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he followed
her through the dining room, where papers were strewn across the
worn, wooden table. Past the dining room, he could see into a small
kitchen.

That last summer, after Haley's senior prom,
he'd followed Katie and Haley around like a safety chasing a wide
receiver. He'd tried to be nonchalant about it, just show up
wherever they were. He was pretty sure Katie had seen through him,
but he didn't know if Haley had ever figured out how he felt about
her.

And then Katie's pregnancy changed
everything. Derailed his plans.

And heaped on another responsibility. Not
that he regretted having charge of Olivia, but he'd only been
twenty-one.

And speaking of.

"I should check on..." He nodded to the
kitchen.

He passed by Haley, getting a whiff of
something flowery.

Olivia caught sight of him and sent him a
chagrined smile, not letting go of the spoon she held in one hand.
"Hey, Uncle M."

Her subdued greeting was not lost on him,
nothing like the chattering he'd heard before, through the open
window.

She was safe. Thank God. He swallowed the
emotion that tightened his throat. "You're in trouble, you know
that?"

"I'm sorry," Olivia whispered.

"What exactly were you thinking?"

"I needed to go to the bank."

He shook his head, didn't even know what to
say. What she'd done was dangerous. Then he got a whiff and a
glimpse of the pan she was tending. "What is that?"

She said something he didn't understand, her
voice still soft and subdued.

"What?" he asked warily.

"Duck," answered Haley. "It's French."

He wasn't sure what to think about that, and
it must've shown in his face, because Olivia giggled
hesitantly.

"Uncle M is more of a steak and potatoes kind
of guy," his niece offered.

He shrugged. It was true.

"Well, maybe it's a good thing you and I
met," Haley told Olivia. "We can both appreciate the finer culinary
arts."

He watched Olivia repeatedly scoop up the
sauce in the pan and drizzle it over the duck. He'd never seen her
do anything like that before. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Food Network," Olivia said at the same time
that Haley said, "Cooking classes."

The girls shared a smile, and the sight of it
was like getting socked in the solar plexus. How long had it been
since Olivia had smiled at him like that? How had his niece formed
a connection with Haley in just an hour? Was it the cooking
together? Or was it because they were both female?

He didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted
to find out. "We've gotta head home, kid."

Olivia and Haley shared a glance, and he
braced himself for the upcoming battle.

But it wasn't Olivia who begged him to
stay.

"I know you've got places to be," Haley said.
"But I want to talk to you for a minute."

#

This was a little
surreal.

Haley couldn't believe that Maddox was really
here. The first man who'd kissed her.

The man she'd dreamed would fall in love with
her and want to marry her. At least she'd dreamed it until Katie's
death had changed everything.

He followed her back into the dining room.
She stepped on one side of the table and turned to see he'd paused
on the opposite side. He faced her like she was the opposing team.
His broad shoulders—football shoulders—filled out the plain blue
t-shirt, and his hair clung to his head after being under his
cowboy hat all day.

But it was the shadows in
his coffee-colored eyes that had her breath catching in her chest.
This wasn't the confident
all of life ahead
of him
Maddox that she remembered so
vividly from that summer.

"Where's Matilda?" he asked with a glance
toward the living room.

Tears rose in the back of her throat, but she
coughed them away. "Napping," she said.

His eyes questioned her, and she shook her
head. "She's been diagnosed with...cancer." The word was a knife in
her throat. "The doctors say..." She took a breath. And still
couldn't say it. "So I'm here."

She'd tried to keep the tears back, but the
diagnosis and her aunt's impending decline were too close. She
wrapped her arms around her waist and squeezed her eyes tightly
closed.

Aunt Matilda's diagnosis had given Haley
focus. Her aunt had been there when Haley had moved to Redbud
Trails during senior year. She'd offered her niece a home when
Haley's footloose father had been ready to move on. They'd talked
on the phone every week since Haley had gone off to college. And
she'd offered Haley emotional support when Haley's serious
boyfriend Paul had broken things off.

Until now, the breakup and the distance in
her relationship with her father had been the biggest problems in
Haley's life. But they were minor compared to what Matilda was
facing now. Haley was done wallowing in self-pity. When she got
back to her life in Oklahoma City, she was moving on.

She held her breath until the impulse to cry
passed.

"I'm real sorry to hear that," he said, and
his voice was a little gruff. "Your aunt's a classy lady."

She half-laughed, half-hiccuped. "Yes, she
is. Anyway"—she waved off the grief—"that's not what I want to talk
to you about. Have you seen this?" She tapped the three-ring binder
that Livy had been carrying in her backpack.

He came closer, caddy-corner to her at the
edge of the table, and looked down at the computer-printed pages.
He flipped one, then another, reading over the information
slowly.

"What is this?" he asked.

"It's a business plan. It's Livy's."

He looked up sharply. Haley flushed a little,
but wouldn't take the nickname back. Katie's daughter had wanted to
be called Livy after they'd bonded over their love of cooking.

He looked toward the kitchen, where they
could hear Livy humming a little tune.

"For what?" he asked, still looking toward
his niece.

"Ice cream."

"She makes a lot of ice cream at home,
different flavors, but... She wants to start a business?"

He looked at her with those unfathomable
eyes. For a brief moment, an awareness swelled between them. A
memory, a connection. Then he blinked, and it dissolved, leaving
nothing in its place.

Haley shook away a tic of sadness. "She was
trying to get to the bank to ask for a loan. She made up this
business plan—it's actually very detailed. I'm surprised at how
much work she's put into it. It's impressive for someone her
age."

He furrowed his brow. "Shouldn't she want to
be a cheerleader or play basketball? You know, do normal kid
things?"

Haley winced but tried to cover it with a
smile. "She is a normal little girl," she said softly, glancing
over her shoulder to make sure Livy wasn't listening. How many
times in her own childhood had Haley wanted to fit in with the
other kids? And she hardly ever had.

"Some kids want those things," Haley said. "I
think some kids know what they want to do with their lives. What
did you want to do when you were Livy's age?"

"Play football." By the clenched jaw, she
figured he regretted that statement. "I just don't get why she
wants to make ice cream. There's already a chain in town."

"Not just ice cream.
Gourmet
ice
cream."

He shook his head. "I don't get it."

"It's a different market than fast food," she
explained gently.

He exhaled a long, slow sigh, shifting his
feet. "How much?"

"Fifteen hundred dollars."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "You've
got to be—"

"She's got a restaurant willing to sell her a
used blast freezer at a great deal."

"A what?"

"It's a commercial-grade ice-cream
maker."

He shook his head, looking down at the papers
in the binder.

"I know it's a lot of money." Haley tapped
the folder. "She's done some research. She's got great ideas, I
think we could work up a marketing plan—"

"Thanks for encouraging her, but I can't
afford something like this." He sounded sincere in his thanks, but
also discouraged. He ran one hand against the back of his neck,
fluffing the bottom of his slightly-too-long brown curls.

"I'd like to do more than encourage her."

He narrowed his eyes. "You want to give my
niece fifteen hundred dollars?" he asked slowly. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I'm here for"—she drew a
breath—"the summer, probably. I'd kind of like to go into business
with her. Be her partner."

"Why?" he repeated.

For Katie
, she wanted to say. And for him. For the dreams that had been
lost to Katie's pregnancy and untimely death.

But mostly for Livy. When they'd been talking
this afternoon, Haley had seen a glimpse of herself in the younger
girl—a little girl hungry for love, for someone to believe in
her.

"What if she fails? What if you lose all that
money?"

"It's just money."

He looked at her like she'd said something
crazy.

"Anyway, that's my problem, mine and
Livy's."

He was softening. She could see it in the
minute drop of his shoulders.

"Whatever happens, it'll be a learning
experience for her," she offered.

"Teach her that life's hard," he muttered,
looking back down at the table again.

"What if she doesn't fail?"

When he looked up at her, she saw the truth
in his gaze. This wasn't the same confident football star she'd
known before. Maybe he didn't believe in his own dreams,
anymore.

But Livy deserved her chance.

He glanced toward the kitchen again. From
where she stood, Haley couldn't see Livy, but knew the girl could
probably hear them. He seemed to have the same thought, because he
lowered his voice. "If we do this, I'm not letting you take on the
whole expense."

Her heart thumped loudly as she heard what he
didn't say. "If...?"

He smiled. A sad little half-smile. More a
turning up of one side of his mouth. "I shouldn't. This is
crazy."

Maybe it
was
a little crazy. It felt more like
one of Katie's old schemes than something the responsible,
college-educated Haley would do.

But being here for her aunt, coming back to
the place where Katie's life had ended too suddenly—both were
reminders that sometimes, life didn't give you second chances.

Livy deserved to chase her dreams. Life was
too short to waste it.

And Haley was determined Katie's daughter
would have the chance. Even if it meant bumping into this handsome
cowboy a few more times.

Chapter Two

A week later, Maddox still couldn't quite
believe he'd agreed to Haley's wild scheme. Or that Haley had
agreed to give his niece that kind of money.

He'd been gone on the harvest crew for four
days, arriving home late last night. While he'd been gone, he'd
relied on his cousin Ryan to help out and keep Justin in line. At
least Olivia hadn't run away again.

After a short night's sleep, Maddox had been
out with the cattle since dawn, starting with a headcount and
checking fences. Since high school, he'd spent years building the
farm back up after his old man had let things get so bad. Maddox
had vowed he would never give up on life like his father had.

He'd just ridden his horse into the barn
after cooling the animal down when he heard a car pull up in the
drive between the house and the barn. Haley had promised to deliver
the machine this evening. Olivia had mentioned it about ten times
when he'd gone in for lunch earlier.

He stayed with his horse. He wasn't going to
rush out to greet her like a high schooler on a first date. Hadn't
he behaved like that enough that last summer? He'd stay here in the
barn, even if his heart started pounding and his palms slicked with
sweat.

Haley was here for Olivia. Maddox was in no
shape to be getting interested in a woman. End of story.

Maddox brushed down the horse, keeping his
feet planted right where they were. He thought about how she might
smile if he went to greet her, how her curls would look in the
fading light. He ground his teeth and ran the brush through the
horse hair.

"Hey, Mad!" Ryan's voice rang out. His cousin
had been over this afternoon, trying for the thousandth time to
cheer up Justin. Or get his butt out of that recliner. Or both.

"Your new girlfriend is here!" Ryan called as
Maddox tucked his horse back into its stall.

Maddox gave his horse one last pat. "She's
not my girl—" He turned and stopped short. "Howdy, Haley."

Ryan jerked a thumb at her. "Followed me out
here."

She peeked at him over Ryan's shoulder,
grinning.

Something inside him responded, like his
insides broke open or something equally corny. Really? He wasn't
nineteen anymore.

"You're early," he groused.

She seemed to see right through him, her
smile widening. "I couldn't wait any longer. I love ice cream."

"Livy's in the house."

She nodded but didn't seem in any kind of
hurry to head that way. She glanced around the interior of the
barn, and he followed her gaze, seeing it through her eyes. Ryan
boarded a few horses here, and Maddox's four had stuck their heads
over the stall doors, craning to see the owner of that female
voice. Or maybe it just seemed that way to him.