MC ROMANCE: Wanted by the Alpha Biker (Motorcycle Club Alpha Male Bad Boy Romance) (MC Romantic Suspense Contemporary New Adult Short Stories) (181 page)

Chapter Five

              Shay turned the shop’s door sign from OPEN to CLOSED and shut off the front lights before she went to set the alarm at the back door.  Outside Tom stood leaning against his pick-up and smiling as Jenny chattered with excitement.

“I can’t believe you and Shay were on Montana’s Most Wanted list for almost a whole day,” her assistant gushed.  “I have to get a copy of the flyer to hang in the shop.  It’ll be so outlaw.”

“We are not, and never were, outlaws,” Shay said firmly.  “Now go home and get some rest.  The St. Patrick’s Day sale starts tomorrow, and I plan to sell every yard of green we’ve got.”

“Yes, boss.”  With a wink at Tom Jenny went to unlock her little compact car.

Shay stood beside Tom to watch her drive off.  “You ready to do this?”

“I have another idea.”  He tugged her into his arms and gave her a soft, leisurely kiss.  “Let’s go back to your place.”

“You’ve been living at my place for the last three days.”  Which she had loved, because they’d spent just about every minute of it in her bed.  She and Tom had finally talked out everything, and made plans for their future.  They’d also made love so much they both should have been limping.

“We can do it tomorrow,” Tom told her.

“No.  Pretty soon Ethan will be calling the cops on us.”  She climbed into his pick-up.  “Come on.  It’s like taking medicine.  The sooner you do it, the better you’ll feel.”

Tom grumbled most of the way from the shop to Ghost Lake Ranch.  As soon as they were in sight of his family’s property, he pulled off the road and parked.

He stared at the steering wheel.  “I can’t do this to them, Shay.”

“It’s their ranch, but it’s your life.”  She covered his hand with hers.  “They love you, Tom.  Just be honest with them, and they’ll understand.”

When they reached the big house everyone poured out to greet them.  While she was being passed around for hugs, Shay kept an eye on Tom.  He put on a good show, but worry still lingered tight around his mouth.

“I was about to file a missing person report on you,” Ethan told Tom as they went inside.  “Any more problems with the mess in Helena?”

“After we gave our statements, and Tom turned over the recording to the D.A., we were done.”  Shay made a face.  “Councilman Bramson’s wife stopped by the station to speak with us before we left.  She was in pretty bad shape.” 

Shay glanced around as the family gathered at the big kitchen table, and then met Tom’s gaze.  She knew how wretched he felt about this, but he had the courage to do it.  He just had to get the words out.

She mouthed hers first.  “I love you.”

He nodded, and went to the head of the table.  “I need to tell you all something.” 

Because Tom seldom spoke up, everyone quieted. 

“Shay and I really appreciate you coming to help us up in the city.”  His gaze shifted.  “Liam, I’m sorry you had to take that kill shot.  Not how I wanted it to end.”

“Better than what he had in mind,” his older brother replied.

Tom touched the empty chair in front of him.  “None of us sit here because it was Dad’s place.  We’ve all worked real hard to keep his dream going, too.  I know he’d be proud of us, but he’d also want us to have our dreams, too.”  He took a deep breath before he looked at his oldest brother.  “Ethan, I’m not coming back to the ranch.  I’m moving to town.  I’ll be staying with Shay until I get my own place, and then I’ll be opening up a carpentry shop.”

“You mean, leave for good?  To be a nail-pounder?” Caleb demanded, and then yelped as Chris elbowed him.  “What?  He’s a cowboy, not a shop keeper.”

Jonah looked a little unhappy, too.  “No Boone’s ever had any business except cattle.”

“I’ll always be part of this family,” Tom told him.  “And if you need me here, you just have to pick up the phone.”  He looked at his youngest brother.  “Cal, you know how much I love working with wood, and building furniture, and restoring old things.  This is what I want for me.  This is my dream.”

“Well, then.”  Ethan got to his feet.  “I guess there’s only one thing to do.”  As Tom gave him a wary look he grinned.  “We’ve got to find a great place in town to open this shop.”      

Shay blinked against the sting in her eyes as she rose and went to hug her lover.

              “There is one more thing.”  Tom removed the mini-cam from his pocket and set it on the table.  “I know you didn’t put this in my truck to test it, Caleb.  And you didn’t send me Helena to return ribbon for Jessa, Ethan.”

              Shay frowned.  “They didn’t?”

              Tom eyed Chris.  “Since Shay told me she talked to you about me, this had to be your bright idea.”

              The big man shrugged.  “Thought we’d try, anyway.”  He smiled at Shay.  “We sent Tom to Helena so he could bump into you.”

              Caleb nodded.  “And I put the mini-cam in his truck so we could see you two kissing.”  As Tom took a step toward him, he held up his hands.  “Hey, if not for me you’d be in jail, buddy.”

              Tom turned to Shay.  “I can move in tonight, right?”             

THE END

Love in Ghost Lake Ranch

Book 6

(Can be read as a standalone book)

By: Amber Duval

Cherished by the Cowboy

Chapter One

“Tell me there isn’t a stripper,” Ethan Boone muttered from the side of his mouth as he grinned at the mass of cheering friends and cowboys crowding the roadhouse.

“Caleb planned this bachelor party,” Robert Boone told his oldest brother as he clapped him on the shoulder. “Expect a whole army of strippers.”

“All right, old man,” Chris Boone said, his giant frame looming over Ethan.  “Let’s get you crowned.”

Rob grinned as family and friends swept his laughing brother off to a throne-like chair.  The men then hoisted Ethan and the chair up and carried him to the center of the dance floor.  Behind a curtain of chicken wire, a local garage band played a funeral dirge.  Rob’s youngest brother, Caleb, switched Ethan’s Stetson for a gold paper crown covered with glittering square foil packets.

“Aw, that’s so pretty with the jewels,” Margie, the bartender said as she offered Rob a dark bottle of beer.  “Why are you snickering like that, boy?”

“Those aren’t jewels, ma’am,” he told her as he took a drink.  “They’re more like, uh, jewel covers.”

She peered and then released a belly laugh.  “Well, at least your brother will have all he needs for the honeymoon.” 

Rob nodded as he leaned against the bar and surveyed the interior of the roadhouse.  All of his brothers and every one of their friends had come, which made him feel satisfied.  When their parents had died, Ethan had given up most of his dreams to come home.  He’d worked tirelessly to take care of his six brothers and help them run Ghost Lake Ranch, the family cattle spread.  Seeing him finally have something just for himself – namely, his lovely fiancée Jessa Cooper – made Rob happy for him.

It would never happen for him, of course.  When it came to girlfriends and love, Rob considered it a public service to run away from both as fast as he could.

When Caleb came over to order some beers Margie leaned her elbows against the bar.  “I know you’re too much of a tom cat to settle down, Cal.  But when will we be hosting your last night as a free man, Robbie?”

Rob nearly choked on his beer, and spent the next minute clearing his throat.

“Rob’s never getting married,” Caleb told her.  “We’ll be lucky if we can find him a date for the wedding.”

Rob glared at him.  “I told you, no dates.  None, zip, zero.”

“Why not?” Margie asked as she lined up four more bottles on the bar.  “You’re just as big and handsome as your brothers.”

“Sure, but he’s the only one who’s cursed.”  Caleb expertly dodged Rob’s half-hearted swat.  “Go on, bro.  Tell her.”  He grabbed the four bottles and hurried off. 

Rob sighed.  “I’m not cursed,” he assured Margie.  “I just have bad luck with dating women.”

The hard-faced rancher sitting on the stool next to him snorted.  “Boy, we all do.”

He took a long drink of his beer.  “Not like mine.” 

“Well, come on,” Margie urged.  “I want hear all about it.”

Rob hunched his shoulders.  “My first date in high school was with Miranda Logan.  We went horseback riding, or tried to.  When she rode out of the barn, a garden snake spooked her horse.    She fell off and broke her leg.”

Margie waved her hand.  “Oh, sweetheart, that couldn’t be your fault.”

“That’s what I thought.”  Rob turned to the rancher.  “My second date was with Sally Makepeace.  We met at the movie theater in town.”

The older man frowned.  “There’s no movie theater in town.”

Rob nodded.  “That’s because it caught fire the night we went there, just as the movie started.  The equipment overheated or something.  Anyway, everyone got out all right, but the building burned to the ground in less than twenty minutes.”

“Coincidence,” Margie said, although she didn’t sound quite as sure this time.  “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Rob sighed.  “On my third date, also with Sally, we went to the bowling alley with her folks.  I thought with them there nothing could happen.  And then her dad’s bowling ball slipped off his fingers and hit Sally in the face.  Broke her nose and knocked out her front teeth.” 

The rancher grimaced.  “Damn.”

“I stopped dating for a while after that, and waited all the way until Prom before I asked out Ruby Stephens.”  He smiled as the bartender gaped at him.  “Thought you might recognize her name.  She was in all the papers.”

To the rancher Margie said, “She’s the girl that had a baby at Prom, in the restroom.  He wasn’t yours, was he?”

“No, ma’am.  I just delivered him.”  He set his bottle down on a cocktail napkin.  “To be fair, Ruby really didn’t know she was pregnant.  She thought her stomach was upset because she’d just broken up with her boyfriend.”

The rancher whistled.  “You have had some awful luck, cowboy.”

“I don’t understand,” Margie said, scowling at him.  “I’ve heard plenty of women talk about you.  They got all kind of stories about how you tear up the sheets with them.  Not a one ever mentioned getting hurt.”

Rob winked at her.  “That’s because I don’t date them.  Excuse me.”  He walked across the bar to intercept the stripper sneaking up behind Ethan and slipped her fifty bucks.  “Keep most of your clothes on, sweetheart, and no lap dances.  Okay?”

She nodded and tucked the bills in her bra.  “Old-fashioned?”

“Yeah, and truly in love.”  Rob returned to his bar stool, where the rancher held out a fresh beer to him.  “What’s this for?”

“Luck,” the older man said, smiling now.  “You never know when it’s going to change.”

#

              “Can I hide out in here with you?”

Malory French glanced at the green-eyed, strawberry blonde who had just come in the restroom.  She leaned against the exit door as if she meant to hold back a tide of demons.  “Sure.  Are you sneaking away from the bridal shower or the baby shower?”

“Bridal.”  The other woman glanced down at the colored dot stickers adorning the front of her pretty lace blouse.  “They’re playing Love Bingo — without the cards.  If I go back out there I’m going to hurt someone.”

Malory chuckled.  “I was roped into the baby shower.  They’re planning to bob for nipples next.  The baby bottle variety.  You know, I think there’s a back door through the kitchen.”

“I love you.  Want to have my baby?”  The other woman grinned and held out a slim, capable-looking hand.  “Jessa Cooper, equine vet.”  She nodded as Malory inspected her small but lovely engagement ring.  “And bride-to-be, I’m afraid.”

“Malory French, head librarian.  Happily unmarried and childless.  Since I came in last in the Diaper Derby, probably for the best.”  She shook her hand and then rolled her eyes as a very pregnant young woman darted inside and closed the door.

“They’re sticking tiny clothespins on me now.”  Becca Boone began pulling them from her collar and sleeves.  “Make them stop.”

The three of them laughed together, and Malory congratulated them both before making her excuses.

“Becca, I am so happy for you and Chris.”  She turned to Jessa.  “That goes for you and Ethan, too, Jessa.  But I have to get up early tomorrow, so I’m going to call it a night.  I almost forgot.”  She reached for her purse, and took out her gift for Becca.  “It’s that book on natural childbirth you couldn’t find at the library.”

“Oh, thank you for remembering.”  Becca gave her a somewhat awkward hug.  “Now I just have to hide it from Chris.  He nearly passed out when they showed the childbirth film at our last Lamaze class.  Then he asked the instructor if
he
gets any anesthetic in labor and delivery.”

As she drove home to her little apartment across town, Malory tried to hold onto her good mood.  She didn’t often socialize, but Becca Boone had become one of her favorite regular patrons at the library.  She also liked her gentle giant of a husband, Chris, who obviously adored his wife.  Thank heavens neither of them seemed to remember her from high school.

“I’m not that girl anymore,” she muttered under her breath.  “I’m just like every other woman in town.”

Once she parked, Malory climbed out of the car, and then staggered a little as her head began to spin.  “Oh, Lord,” she muttered under her breath.  “Did they spike the punch, too?” 

Thankfully her apartment was on the first floor.  When she reached it, however, she felt so dizzy she could barely fit her key into the lock.  Malory managed to get inside, her purse falling from her hand as she staggered over to the phone in the kitchen.  The buttons blurred as she peered at them, trying to remember what number she was going to dial.

As the room tilted, a gloved hand took the receiver from her shaking fingers and hung it back up.