Her Homecoming Cowboy (5 page)

“You think Annie Aunt’s gonna be mad?”

Colt grinned at the kid before he could stop himself and he tousled Leo’s blond hair. “Maybe. But, come on... I’ll face her with you. When a man messes up, he has to face the music.”

Leo looked at him strangely. “I don’t think she’s gonna sing to me.”

Colt laughed. “Probably not. But we’ve still got to go face her.”

* * *

“Leo!” Annie scanned the pasture while she jogged, hoping to see him. But he was nowhere. She’d been unpacking some of their things in the bedrooms while Leo played with his rope in the backyard. When she’d checked on him twenty minutes later, he was gone.

“Leo!” she called again. Stopping to catch her breath, she scanned the pasture. He hadn’t been in the barn or the front yard. He hadn’t answered when she’d called his name over and over again. And then she’d thought about Colt. Leo had asked her on the way home from day care if he could go to Colt’s, and she’d told him that today wasn’t a good day.

Please let him be okay
.
Please.

She started moving again, just topping the slight hill when she spotted them. Colt and Leo walking side by side, crossing the pasture.
They walk alike
. The thought registered in the back of her mind, but she was too overwhelmed with relief for the implications to completely register. Gasping, Annie rushed forward.

“Leo! Honey, you scared me,” she scolded, though she was so relieved it was a wonder she could speak. Scooping him into her arms, she hugged him tightly, fear washing over her. “Please don’t go running off like that. Please.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, squirming as she set him back on the ground. “I just wanted to see Colt.”

“I brought him back the minute I realized you weren’t with him.”

Colt’s quiet words steadied her and she drew back from some of the terror that had clutched her. She tried to force the overreaction away. “Thank you. I feel awful. I was unpacking and he was right outside roping. I didn’t check on him for twenty minutes, so I didn’t know how long he’d been gone. And then I had to check the barn and the area around the house.” She was rambling and couldn’t seem to stop it.

“He’s fine. I don’t think he’ll be doing that again. Will you, buddy?”

Leo shook his head. “Colt told me I made you worry.”

“I know you didn’t mean to.” She fought to let the episode go as she brushed his bangs off his forehead. “I’m just glad a cow didn’t get you.”

Colt’s brows lifted a bit and he gave a slight nod of agreement.

“I was real careful. I crouched down real low, like this.” Leo leaned over, hunkering down and demonstrating how he’d scurried across the pasture. When he came to a stray clump of bitterweeds, he crouched down, looked about, then grinned at them. “See, I was real careful and watched out for mean ole heifers like y’all told me to.”

Colt and Annie laughed.

Then Leo headed home, continuing to sneak back across the pastures, obviously enjoying his game. Watching him, Annie and Colt began walking.

“Are you okay? You seemed...really upset.”

Self-conscious, she sure wished she hadn’t let her fear show. “I’m fine. I just got worried. Leo was gone.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, just walked beside her, as they kept Leo in sight. “So, y’all are settled?” he asked, tucking his hands into his pockets.

Annie nodded, glad for a change of subject. “Pretty much. We really didn’t have a lot to unpack.”

“So, y’all lost everything?”

“Except each other.” Annie met his questioning gaze. “The fire was bad. I’m grateful Leo wasn’t harmed. If I’d lost him...or he’d lost me...” A lump lodged in her throat. “
That
would have been the tragedy.” Her heart raced again at the thought.

Every time that horrible day came to mind, especially the moments when she’d believed she was going to die not knowing what had happened to Leo, she had to fight not to tear up. Forcing herself to the bright side, she smiled. “Thankfully, we have each other, and we’re here in this neat little town, moved into this fantastic, quaint farmhouse that I’ve totally fallen in love with. I feel like I’m living on a smaller set of
The Waltons
when I’m in the kitchen.”

Colt stopped walking. “So you were home when the fire happened?”

“I was. Leo was staying in town at a friend’s house, because we knew our area was in a danger zone. When the fires struck it happened so quickly...” She paused, remembering. She rubbed her arms as Colt watched her with intense eyes. “It’s unbelievable how your life can change in a flash,” she added. Though she’d rather change the conversation, something in his expression, in his eyes, seemed to draw the words from her.

“Yes, it is.” He took a deep breath and studied Leo, who’d reached the yard and had begun trying unsuccessfully to rope a bucket he’d set out.

Annie felt sad. Among all the other things she thought she’d seen in him at their first meeting, she’d glimpsed what she believed to be sadness. She’d chalked it up to the fact that his injury must have taken him out of contention for the national championship. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Have you eaten?” she asked impulsively. After all, she was here to find out who Colt Holden was. What better way to do that than to share a meal with him? “Leo would be ecstatically happy if you were to eat supper with him. I’ve got plenty.”

“I haven’t eaten, but—”

“Please join us. It’s the least I can do after you’ve saved the day, two days in a row. I promise you it won’t become a habit.” As if she could promise that when Leo was around! What was she thinking?
You’re thinking about making this man laugh again and you know it.

He had a nice, rusty laugh and seemed to surprise himself every time one escaped the tightly guarded wall that surrounded him.

His eyebrows knitted slightly over deliberating eyes that darted back to Leo. Sensing their gazes, Leo looked up and waved. “Come help me, Colt.” His little voice was full of excitement.

Annie held her breath.

“I need—” Colt started, and Annie was certain he was going to say, “I need to go.” But he clenched his jaw and swallowed hard. If she’d hadn’t already picked up that something was wrong in Colt’s life, it was very clear now.

“Please,” she urged, touching his arm. His tortured eyes were fathomless when he turned them to her.

What had happened to this man?

He blinked and the agony was replaced with that semiblank facial expression she’d seen before.

“I don’t know what’s bothering you,” she blurted out. “But I’m thinking maybe some company would help. Please stay.”

Chapter Five

C
olt couldn’t turn Annie’s invitation down. Oh, he’d tried. She was persistent, though, and despite the loss and guilt raging through him, when she’d touched him, when he’d looked at her, he couldn’t turn and run. Couldn’t tear himself away even though he tried.

“Great!” A warm smile spread across her face and crinkled the edges of her eyes. Immediately she headed toward the house, probably afraid that he would change his mind. “Not that I’m promising anything fancy. But with Leo around, I can always promise wonderful, entertaining company.”

She shot him a grin. “That kid’ll brighten any day.”

Colt took a deep breath. She had no idea that it was the little fella’s exuberance and liveliness that had him twisted into knots right now. He pushed the idea away. He had to come to grips with this somehow. It would be just like God to move Annie and Leo right in beside him to help him to dig up out of the hole he was in. It didn’t sit well with Colt, but that beef was between him and God; Annie and Leo had nothing to do with it.

* * *

Through the kitchen window, Annie watched Colt show Leo how to hold the rope and then toss it. Over and over it missed, and over and over Colt patiently showed him how to do it. Annie was supposed to be setting the table and putting the hamburger skillet dinner out, but she was drawn to the window to watch them. There was just no denying that Colt intrigued her.

The little voice in her head kept telling her he looked great, too—but she was ignoring the bothersome voice. Colt was crouched on Leo’s level and was explaining how to hold his hand as he held the rope, and she was seeing yet again how similar Leo’s movements were as he copied the way his daddy held his hand. So engrossed was Annie that it took a minute to realize she smelled something burning and that the room had somehow filled with smoke. “Oh, my goodness!” she exclaimed rushing over to the stove, where the skillet of hamburger and noodles smoldered!

“Nooo!” She snatched a potholder, grabbing the skillet handle—

“Annie Aunt, what’er you doin?”

Annie spun around, still holding the skillet with its smoking contents. “I...I’m—” Before she could say more, Colt crossed the room and turned off the flame of the gas stove.

“Maybe you should sit that back down now,” he drawled.

Annie prayed that the earth would swallow her up, and rescue her from this major embarrassment. No such luck.

“That stinks,” Leo said, scrunching his nose into a tiny contortion. “Are we gonna
eat
that?”

Colt, to his credit, didn’t say anything. She knew what he was probably thinking—that he’d had to rescue her yet again after she’d told him he wouldn’t have to. What in the world must the man think about her?

“I haven’t gotten used to an electric gas stove yet,” she said. And it was the truth. “The heat is either too high or too low.”

“I understand that. I’m a gas stove man myself. Those electric ones that tell you how to do everything except dry and fold your laundry drive me crazy.”

Annie chuckled, feeling less embarrassed. She hadn’t been feeling like herself ever since she’d come to Mule Hollow. And the reason was standing in her kitchen right now.

“So, if you burnt dinner, what are we gonna eat?” Leo asked, looking at her as if all the world depended on this meal.

Annie gave an exaggerated groan. “Your appetite is growing faster than you are. Don’t worry, sugar, you’re going to eat.”

Colt grinned at him. “Would you eat one of Colt Holden’s famous omelets?”

“Sure!” Leo exclaimed. “I ain’t gonna turn that down.”

She was startled by Colt’s offer and her heart tugged at the way he grinned at Leo. Maybe, this could all work out. A surge of joy ran through her. But then...did she even have the fixings that went into an omelet? Please, please let it be so.

“Better yet, would you help me make my world-famous omelet?”

Oh, that got a huge nod from Leo that Annie thought was going to break his little head right off his body.

“Do you have eggs?” Colt asked.

Heading to the fridge, Annie worried about how many she had as she tugged open the door and pulled out the container. She cringed. “I have only four.”

Colt looked from her to Leo. “Well, how about this. I’ve got plenty of eggs at my place. What about y’all drive me to the fence line, we walk over to my cabin and then have dinner there?”

Annie felt the oddest tremor in her stomach. Who was this guy? He was definitely not the same guy they’d met yesterday morning.

“Can we, Annie Aunt? Please.”

There was no way she could turn this down, and there was no reason to. She’d come here to get to know Colt Holden, and God had paved the way for that to happen.

Still, she would not be swayed after only two days. “We’ll come over, but only if you’re sure.”

He hesitated for a brief moment and a shadow passed across his expression. “I’m sure.”

Annie’s insides quivered. All the way to his house, she told herself this attraction was understandable. The man was gorgeous and he was being kind to Leo.

Leo. She needed to remind herself that this was about Leo. Going to Colt’s was a good chance for her to see Leo’s daddy in his own home. What could be better than that? With the constant fear of someone realizing how alike Colt and Leo were, she was thankful that things were moving along so quickly.

Otherwise she didn’t know what she was going to do.

* * *

“Now for my secret ingredients.” Colt handed Leo a green container that had Tony Chachere’s Seasoning written across it. Annie had seen the Creole seasoning but never used it. “This is a little spicy, but you’re going to like it. Give those bad boys a good shaking of that.” He indicated the bowl of eggs and milk. Leo turned his big eyes up at him and grinned.

“You betcha.” Leo accepted the can of spices, then turned it upside down and shook it like there was no tomorrow.

Colt grimaced. “Okay, that should do it.” When Leo continued shaking the can of stout Louisiana spice, Colt took it from Leo’s hand, laughing. He hadn’t quite expected such an enthusiastic response. He met Annie’s twinkling gaze across the kitchen. She was sitting at the small breakfast bar that served as his dining room table in the small two-bedroom cabin. She’d offered to help, but there was only so much room in his bite-size kitchen. So instead she sat and watched.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing. Why had he asked them here? What had gotten into him when he’d said he would stay for dinner in the first place? He hadn’t expected how easily he’d jumped into the situation with his offer to cook omelets. Looking at Leo twisted his guts by reminding him of the little boy who’d lost his life because of Colt, but he couldn’t ignore that Leo drew him. Something about the little boy could not be ignored. The fact that his heart seemed lighter in Leo’s presence—and Annie’s, too, for that matter—did make his guilt heavier. He was going to have to deal with that, because there was no way he could tell the kid no. No way he could shove the kid away as he’d done at their first meeting, when he’d handed him the rope and driven off.

Colt had never been one to hurt kids. He’d had enough hurt in his own childhood, as a boy who knew his parents didn’t care about him. There was no way he could add pain to a kid’s life. Being a champion bull rider, he’d always had kids hanging around him and considered it a privilege to give them a little of his time. If giving Leo some of that time cost him in the way of guilty feelings and stomach pains, then so be it. Colt was just going to have to take it like a man.

For now, he had omelets to cook. And there was no way he was going to let himself burn their dinner.

“Do we pour it in the skillet now?”

Leo’s question got Colt back on track. “Yes, we do. We’ve got our ham and cheese and our other ingredients in there—”

“And our secret ingredient!” Leo added.

“You bet we got that in there. Now our skillet is warmed up and here we go.”

Leo watched intently as Colt poured a portion of the mixture into the pan.

“You fellas look like you could have your own cooking show,” Annie said.

So the lady speaks at last. She’d been quiet, watching him and Leo cook. It was almost as if she didn’t want to interrupt the good time the two of them were having. But his attempts at drawing her into the conversation hadn’t kept her talking. He glanced at her. “
Colt and Leo’s Cowboy Cooking
sounds good to me.”

“I like it,” Leo said. And Annie agreed, a smile beaming across her face.

The omelets came out great, if he did say so himself. Of course, he pretty much lived on them. Though there was food in his freezer—casseroles his mother and all the good ladies of Mule Hollow had brought over after the accident—he hadn’t had the desire to pull them out. He hadn’t had much of an appetite, and omelets suited him just fine.

When the food was ready, he slid each omelet from the oven where they’d been warming while he and Leo finished cooking all three. Setting them on the bar, he took a stool across from Annie and Leo sat beside him.

“This is gonna be great,” Leo gushed with glee.

“I hope y’all like them,” Colt said. “If not, there’s always Sam’s diner.”

“We’re going to love these,” Annie assured him.

Something in her voice drew him for a closer look, and he could have sworn that her eyes weren’t twinkling from happiness but from the threat of tears.

She blinked hard and what he’d thought were tears disappeared.

When they finished eating, she insisted on clearing the dishes. He and Leo went outside and he pulled his old roping dummy from the side of the house. A steer head with a body made of a metal rod with small wooden calf legs hinged to it, he’d practiced his roping as a kid on Old T-Bone.

“I never knew you was a roper,” Leo said as he was gathering up his rope for the tenth or fifteenth time. The kid was persistent and relentless. Both great traits for a man.

“I started out doing both. Then I began focusing on bull riding because it was my passion.”

Annie came out onto the porch then, and sat on the steps watching them. She had her chin propped in her palm, her elbow resting on her knee. “So that explains it. I couldn’t figure out the thing with the rope, either. I was just assuming that all cowboys learned to rope at an early age.” She smiled. “You know, like it’s a requirement or something.”

“It is, in a way. Some are just better at it than others.”

“I’m gonna be great. And the same goes for bull riding,” Leo declared, tossing his rope for good measure. It hit a horn on the steer head, and he grinned as though he’d roped the thing. “I touched it!”

Annie laughed in delight. Her laughter tickled something deep in the center of Colt’s chest.

“Way to go, cowboy,” Colt said, excitement filling him. “Give it another go and see what happens.”

Biting his tongue as he concentrated, Leo recoiled his rope, then got his hands set exactly as Colt had taught him. Colt thought it was pretty funny that he sometimes had a habit of biting on the tip of his tongue when he was concentrating. He had to warn Leo later on to be careful doing that. He’d learned that, when he was in the saddle, concentrating and holding his tongue between his teeth, if a horse made an unexpected movement the first thing he’d done was bite down hard. Doing that a few times had taught him to stop the tendency. Still, it was cute seeing how intently the little guy worked at his task.

When he let the loop fly, Colt was holding his breath. When it sailed over one of the horns and stayed, he let out a whoop at the same time Annie did. Leo, however, didn’t make a sound. He just stood there with his mouth open, staring at the roping dummy.

“I did it,” he said at last in total awe. “Would you look at that—
I did it!
” he finally hollered and spun toward Colt. He slung his arms around Colt’s knees and jumped up and down. “I did it. I did it!”

“Yes sir, little cowboy, you sure did.” He held out his hand and Leo gave him a high five.

Pride spread through Colt’s chest. And he remembered the first time he’d hooked a horn. It had been Luke who’d given him a high five. His older brother had always been there for him. Thinking back, Colt had always given thanks for his two brothers. As long as Colt could remember, Luke had been the one he went to for anything. His dad was a drunk, and Colt had learned early on to stay out of his way. And his mother, well she’d never seemed to be around. And then when he was eight, she’d left. Colt pulled his thoughts away from the past and focused on the smiling Leo. Something about the kid reminded him of his childhood. Maybe it was just the fact that he had no mother or father and had only his aunt Annie to rely on. Their pasts were similar in that way.

When he glanced at Annie, there was a worried crease in her forehead as she watched him and Leo. She had a lot on her shoulders. She probably worried a lot about Leo, and the responsibility in raising him up all alone.

She stood abruptly, startling Colt. “Thanks for the evening,” she said. “But we'd better get back home. It’ll be dark soon.”

“Aw, Annie Aunt, I was just getting started.”

“Leo, it’s time. Thank Colt for helping you.”

Though his eyes were full of disappointment, he obeyed his aunt. “Yes, ma’am,” he said with no enthusiasm. “Thanks a bunch, Colt. I had the best time in my entire life.”

Colt chuckled, despite knowing something had put a burr under Annie’s saddle that had her suddenly so ready to leave. He walked them through the woods, and it didn’t go unnoticed that it was Leo who did most of the talking. As he waved goodbye and watched them drive away moments later, he was certain that there was something on Annie’s mind.

What could it be?

What had caused her to leave so suddenly?