Mountain Country Cowboy Read online

  He listened intently, then frowned. “When’s your shift over? I’ll come get you.”

  But he’d no more than hung up when he glanced at the ER’s inner doors and groaned. “What was I thinking? Her husband’s out of town and he has the car. But I can’t leave to go get her now. They might—”

  “I’ll go.”

  “You’d do that?”

  “Of course.” Why did he sound surprised that she’d be willing to help him? “I’m going. Right now. Call me if you hear anything on Joey, okay?”

  “I will.” To her surprise, he took her hand in his. Gave it a squeeze. But his expression remained bleak. “Thanks, Rio.”

  Her heart went out to him. “Don’t beat yourself up, Cash.”

  “Hard not to.”

  “This wasn’t your fault.” Impulsively, she wrapped her arms around him, pinning his to his sides. A deliberately unromantic hug. She didn’t want any misunderstanding, although on which of their parts she had concerns she wasn’t quite sure.

  When she released him, he smiled. “I needed that.”

  “Good. I’ll be back.” She headed to the automated doors, then paused to look at him. “Joey’s going to be okay.”

  Please God, let me be right. Anything less will kill Cash.

  The drive to Canyon Springs battered her with thoughts of Joey. Cash. Lorilee. It hadn’t escaped her that Cash had immediately assumed she’d withheld information regarding his ex-wife. That stung. But she’d led him to believe she couldn’t trust him, so wasn’t it natural he’d also believe she still thought he’d struck Lorilee—was protecting the woman from him by withholding her whereabouts?

  She groaned at that realization as she hurried inside Kit’s to identify herself to Cash’s former wife, a call coming in from him to provide a long-awaited update just as she crossed the threshold. Joey had briefly regained consciousness, but was now sleeping. A broken arm and collarbone. Cuts requiring stitches. A scan showed possible inner cranial swelling, so they wanted to keep him in the intensive care unit to monitor that condition.

  Outside Kit’s, Lorilee climbed into Rio’s truck and fastened her seat belt. She sighed. “That boy of mine...”

  “Is a sweetheart.”

  “I was going to say he’s too much like his daddy. Can wear out your patience in the blink of an eye.” She rode in silence until they hit the highway when thoughts of Joey apparently moved to the back burner and she cut a speculative look at Rio. “Are you seeing that nice deputy you were with today? He comes in a couple of times a week. Alone.”

  “Actually—”

  “Or are you sweet on that rascal Cash? He’s a charmer, isn’t he? Always had a weakness for barrel racers.”

  Rio’s breath caught, not liking the direction this conversation was taking. “How’d you know I was a barrel racer?”

  Lorilee pointed to the distinctive sticker in the back window. “What’s your connection to Cashton?”

  “He’s employed at my family’s business in Hunter Ridge.”

  “That’s all?”

  Rio’s face warmed, and she could only hope her cheeks weren’t as rosy as she suspected they were. “That’s all.”

  With an amused look, Lorilee folded her arms, but apparently decided to let it go, once again changing the subject. “He said my boy’s going to be okay.”

  “But the hospital is going to err on the side of caution. Head injuries can be tricky.”

  “Nothing’s ever simple, is it?” Lorilee stared out the side window. “What in the blazes was that man thinking letting my boy get on a horse? I expected him to keep Joey safe.”

  Rio’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “He’s safe with his father, I can assure you of that. No matter how cautious a parent is, these things happen. Kids don’t always do what they’re told to do.”

  “Don’t I know it.” She shook her head. “Joey’s gotten to be a real handful. Samuel wasn’t willing to take him on for that very reason—among others.”

  “Samuel’s your husband?”

  She nodded. “We’re newlyweds. He’s a good man. Lots better than that last one I got myself tangled up with.” She shook her head again. “But if I’d have known from the beginning how much work it takes to keep a man happy, maybe I’d have stuck with Cash. Invested my efforts in him up front and saved myself a lot of grief later.”

  Rio focused on the road ahead, Lorilee’s words echoing in her mind. That was God’s original plan. That what He’d joined together, shouldn’t be torn apart. How much heartbreak people would spare themselves and their children if they went into relationships with eyes wide open, recognizing that love wasn’t merely a feeling. It was a way of life that, by design, required time and effort. Putting someone else’s welfare before your own.

  Giving your partner the benefit of the doubt.

  Had things worked out between her and Cash, would she have been capable of loving him like that? She’d been giving it considerable thought. Prayer. Increasingly, the differences between Cash and Seth were becoming clear. Seth was only capable of loving Seth. As far as he was concerned, everyone else on the planet had been put here to keep him happy. And when they didn’t...

  No, Cash was nothing like her former boyfriend. She was coming to understand that—and that she had no reason to fear that he ever would be.

  But was it too late for them?

  * * *

  “Thanks for coming, Lorilee. For signing the papers.” She’d not only signed them, but had earlier joined Cash in visiting Joey in ICU. Their boy had been sound asleep, looking so tiny and helpless in the hospital bed with the tubes, wires and monitors rigged up around him.

  She frowned. “You sound like you didn’t think I would.”

  One. Two. Three.

  “Why would I?” He didn’t want to argue. There had been too many arguments through the years, but she needed to know how her disappearing act had impacted him. Joey. “You dumped Joey on me out of the blue and cut ties without leaving a working phone number in case of an emergency. A number where your abandoned son could call you. I had no idea where you were. Rio knew I was trying to locate you and just happened to see you at the restaurant today. Recognized your name and thought Joey resembled you.”

  What were the odds of that? He glanced in Rio’s direction where across the waiting room she chatted with an elderly man. Maybe Rio didn’t “just happen” to do anything of the sort. A higher power was in play.

  Lorilee’s eyes flashed as she plopped her hands on her hips. “How could you not know where I was? I told Mama. She has my new number.”

  “Yeah, and Mama never liked me. But that’s of no account now. You’re here, vouching for Joey’s medical coverage. That’s all that matters. Thank you.”

  Appeased, she jerked her head in Rio’s direction, lowering her voice. “That gal with the funny name... Rio? She wouldn’t ’fess up, but is she your lady now?”

  “We’re friends. I work for—”

  “Her family. She said that, too.” Lorilee smirked. “You two sure have your stories down pat.”

  “Sticking to the truth is always the best policy.”

  “You’re not planning to live out the rest of your life as a cranky old bachelor, are you? She seems to care for Joey. You could do worse, Cash.”

  He wasn’t going to discuss his love life with his ex-wife. “That’s something we need to talk about. Joey’s future.”

  “I love that boy and because I do, I know his future is with you. Not me.”

  He looked at her doubtfully. “Even after what happened to him on my watch?”

  “As your lady friend pointed out on the way over here, accidents happen. Kids are unpredictable, and you can’t keep them locked up in a cage.”

  Relief flooded through him. “Then I’ll be in to
uch soon. With my lawyer.”

  “I won’t fight you on it. My new husband’s considerably older than I am. Real steady type. But he’s raised one family and doesn’t want to take on another. And for myself, I’ve carried the load these first eight years of Joey’s life.”

  Interesting spin she had there.

  “You can see him on down the road to eighteen with my blessing, Cash, as long as I get to see him once in a while.”

  “Thank you, Lorilee.”

  Thank You, God.

  “You’re welcome, Cash.” She studied him a long moment. “I owe you anyway.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “You’ve put up with a lot from me. When we married, I was caught up with myself and what I wanted. Expected you to make me happy.”

  And when he couldn’t, she went looking for someone who would.

  He gave her a reassuring nod. “I think we can both carry our fair share of the responsibility for a failed marriage. Neither of us had the best upbringing. Good role models. I was no more mature than you were. Didn’t have a clue as to how to make a relationship work.”

  “But I used Joey against you time and time again. And that other business... I’m sorry, Cash. I didn’t think you’d end up doing jail time. I just—”

  “Wanted to stop me from gaining custody of Joey.”

  “Not because I was so good for him, but because I wasn’t thinking straight. I was involved with a man who was controlling, jealous, sometimes abusive. And when he hit me after he wouldn’t believe why you’d come by the apartment...well, he talked me into using that injury against you to prove my loyalty to him.” She leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “But you can forget me confessing that in a courtroom, Cash. Not going to happen.”

  “Too late now anyway. I did the time.” He offered a weary smile. “As it turns out, good stuff came of it.”

  She drew back. “Good?”

  He nodded. “When you’re over here sometime to visit Joey, I’ll tell you about it. You might find it changes your life for the better, too.”

  She looked at him as if he’d grown a second head, but just then he glimpsed Rio moving toward the exit doors. “Just a second, Lorilee. I’ll be right back.”

  He intercepted Rio as the automatic doors slid open.

  “You’re leaving? Without seeing Joey?”

  Not staying to talk further to him?

  “ICU has restricted visitation. I wouldn’t think of shortchanging you or Lorilee. But Grandma Jo called and she and Mom are on their way over—Mom’s bringing your truck—and I’m sure they’ll want to see the little guy. She said, too, that they’d be more than happy to take Lorilee back to Canyon Springs afterward.”

  “Joey will probably want to see you when he wakes up, though.”

  “Tell him I’ll see him when he gets out of the hospital. That I’ll be planning his next riding lesson.”

  “That may be a while, but I’ll tell him. It might give him something to look forward to.” He offered a tight smile. “That is, if this episode with Wild Card doesn’t put him off horses permanently.”

  “I’d be surprised if it did. I see too much of his father in him.”

  He grimaced. “Stubborn you mean? Pigheaded? Lacking in self-control?”

  “Actually...” She looked up at him, her expression unexpectedly tender. “I was thinking more along the lines of determined, persevering, faith-filled.”

  “Into self-delusion these days, are you?”

  Her gaze lingered. “Calling them as I see them, cowboy.”

  And with that, she turned and headed out the door, leaving his heart heavy with what-might-have-beens.

  Chapter Sixteen

  She’d wasted too much time allowing her past to color her future—to distort her relationship with a man she’d come to love.

  And had now lost.

  Rio lifted her saddle to the tack room’s rack. Straightened the stirrups.

  Yes, Cash had struck Eliot with a ferocity that had frightened her. But could she truly fault him for that? It was instinctive, in self-defense. He’d been ashamed afterward. Regretted it. Seth had never felt ashamed. The only regret he ever expressed was getting caught for something he shouldn’t have been doing in the first place. He’d insisted he wouldn’t have hit her if she hadn’t “made” him mad.

  That wasn’t Cash. But in misplaced fear, she’d put him in the same box with Seth, slammed on the lid and tied it shut with a nice neat bow. And in doing so, she’d hurt Cash deeply.

  How could she ever make it up to him?

  “You’re here.”

  Startled, she turned to see Cash standing in the tack room doorway. He’d been keeping diligent watch at the hospital, and she hadn’t seen him for several days. Her only updates on Joey had come from Luke and Delaney, who’d welcomed “Junior”—Kaysen Dean—into the world at the same hospital that week.

  “I’m here,” she said lightly, not wanting him to know how his unexpected arrival had shaken her. How her heart had grieved for days. “I just got back from a ride. Needed to clear my head.”

  “I get that. I can hardly wait to get back in the saddle myself.” He nodded in the direction of the stalls behind him. “I see Wild Card’s gone.”

  “Brax came and got her the day after the accident.” She looked at him uncertainly, not sure how he’d take that. “He felt awful about what happened to Joey.”

  He reached out to fiddle with a lead rope hooked on the wall. “She’ll never be a beginner’s horse, but given the time, I think I could still make her a decent mount for an experienced rider. I don’t think she’s so much mean as there are deep-seated fears that need to be worked out of her.”

  Like those God was working out of her?

  “With those issues, though, she doesn’t belong where we’re hosting guests. She’s too much horse for Brax, and he should have sold her months ago.” Rio adjusted the bridle on its hook above the saddle. “So how is Joey?”

  “He’s coming home tomorrow.”

  She met his gaze with a relieved smile. “That’s wonderful news, Cash.”

  “I couldn’t be happier. He says he misses Misty and can’t wait to see her.”

  Rio folded her arms, a smile widening. “What did I tell you? Like father, like son.”

  “You were right.” He squinted one eye. “But then you’ve been right about quite a few things.”

  And wrong about others.

  “You can tell him Rags misses him, too,” she said hurriedly. “And that Misty stands over by the fence every morning, waiting for him. Then eventually gives up and wanders off.”

  “I’ll do that.” He glanced at his watch. “Lorilee’s spending the morning with him, so I thought I’d get the cabin ready for his return. Catch up on some things. Thanks for covering for me while I’ve been gone. I’ve been a slacker this week.”

  She gave him a dubious look. “I hardly think being by your son’s side at a time like this would constitute a slacker. I’ve been more than happy to do whatever I can.”

  “It’s appreciated.” He considered her for a long moment. “I can’t thank you enough, Rio, for finding Lorilee. Joey was happy to see her, and even confessed he didn’t talk about her because he was afraid something had happened to her. Nobody was telling him, and he didn’t want to ask and have it confirmed.”

  Her insides crumpled. “Oh, Cash, that’s heartbreaking.”

  “It is. Clueless me I should have recognized that’s what was going on with him. That his grandma hadn’t explained anything when she brought him up here. But it’s all good now. And totally amazing the way you found his mom, wasn’t it?”

  “I can’t take credit. It was definitely a God thing.”

  “But you were the instrument He used because
He knew you’d be alert and follow through.”

  She squirmed a little under his grateful gaze.

  “Is Lorilee still agreeable with transferring custody to you? She hasn’t changed her mind?”

  He flashed a relieved smile. “No mind changing. She insists she’s carried the load eight years, and now it’s my turn.”

  “I’d say you’ve borne a fair share of that load. You’ve worked hard to provide child support, insurance, to spend as much time with Joey as you could—when his mom allowed.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe so, but I didn’t carry the day-to-day responsibilities, and I now know how much work that is. So if she wants to believe I didn’t play a part for eight years, I’m good with that. I’m just grateful she didn’t decide to take him back after what happened while he was in my care. I got the impression that something you said kept her from going off the deep end on that. From blaming me.”

  “Or maybe God’s been working in her heart.”

  “Could be.”

  Cash glanced in both directions down the aisle behind him, then to her surprise stepped into the tack room and slid the door closed.

  He squared his shoulders, looking her in the eye. “What I actually came to see you about is to apologize for jumping to negative conclusions when you tried to tell me how you’d found Lorilee, and to let you know that Joey and I—”

  She held up a restraining hand.

  “No, Cash. I owe you an apology.” She’d so desperately hoped and prayed for this opportunity to talk to him. To make things, if not right, at least better. “I allowed my experiences with another man to unfairly overshadow my impressions of you.”

  “You were right to.”

  “No, I wasn’t. I’d wrongly judged you, believed your ex-wife’s accusations despite what your friend Will had told Grandma Jo. I’d convinced myself that if a jury found you guilty, you were guilty. Because of my past, I stubbornly—fearfully—refused to accept anything else.”

  “There was no way to prove the accusations false, though. It was a case of he-said, she-said. And with my track record...”