The Cowboy's Saving Grace, an erotic western novella (Taming the Cowboy) (6 page)

“You think it doesn’t happen in places that cost twice as much? You’re overreacting. I keep him safe, Liam, I swear it.”

He bit down on a retort. He knew she was a good mom, at least what he’d seen proved it. But she was wrong now.

“Besides, I have a lease, and even if you chipped in on rent, Teresa couldn’t afford it and I can’t leave her without a roommate.”

Frustration bubbled in him, but the appearance of a police cruiser saved him from losing his temper. He hopped off the tailgate and flagged the cop down. The young woman who got out surprised Liam. She was a little thing, and alone in the cruiser. Seemed to be a rough assignment. But she was completely professional, and aware of her surroundings. Both he and Grace gave their contact information before Grace went upstairs, and Liam told what he’d seen, which wasn’t much.

“Do you have a lot of crime in this area?” he asked as she dusted the truck for fingerprints at his insistence.

“Along this street I get about one car break-in a night.”

“What about these apartments?” He gestured to Grace’s place. “Break-ins there?”

“Now and then. Usually during the day when no one’s home.”

Except Grace was home during the day.  He wasn’t sure whether that made her safer or not. The officer gave Liam a slip of paper with his case number on it and went back to her car. He headed upstairs to get a broom to sweep up the glass while he waited on the tow truck. Grace was in the kitchen with her roommate. He could smell the coffee.

“Go back to bed,” he told her, getting the broom from behind the refrigerator. “Noah will be up in a little while.” He touched her cheek briefly, this thumb brushing the shadow under her eyes. “I’ll be up after the tow truck comes.” And took his baby someplace safe. Even now he didn’t like being up here and the truck vulnerable down there. He kissed her forehead. “Go back to bed.”

She nodded, but he had no idea if she’d listen to him.

Dawn was breaking when the tow truck finally pulled his battered truck out of the parking lot. His eyes were dry and he was cotton-headed as he took the broom and headed upstairs.

His son was still asleep, though on his side, his brow furrowed as if he was having a bad dream. Liam tiptoed past him into the bedroom to find Grace asleep, all right, but still dressed, curled up on top of the covers instead of under them. He toed off his boots and stretched out beside her, curving around her, into her warmth. He’d have to wake her soon enough, to take him to get a rental, but for now, he was just going to hold her.

***

The inside of her car was even worse than the outside. Clean, sure, but the passenger seat had a rip and the dashboard was cracked, and the thermostat lever had to sit just so to blow out warm air. Plus, she drove like a bat out of hell, which amused Noah in his car seat, but Liam held on for dear life.

“You sure you know where this place is?” he asked.

“Sure. It’s by the airport.”

She spun the wheel to the left and he braced his hand on the roof of the car. Which, by the way, was sagging.

When she finally whipped the car into the rental car parking lot, he wanted to kiss the ground. He supposed he should be glad she had a car with that much pick-up, but he thought she’d drive more cautiously with Noah in the car.

“Do you want me to wait?” she asked, car still running.

“No, you need to get Noah to daycare.” He leaned across and kissed her. “Go back and go to sleep. I’ll see you tonight.”

And when he picked her up, they’d continue the conversation about finding her a better place to live.

***

Grace’s head was going to explode, but she couldn’t give her temper free rein with Noah sleeping in the next room. She paced the tiny strip of carpet between her bed and the wall and resolved not to look at Mr. Know-It-All, who sat on her bed. If he used that calm, see-it-my-way tone one more time, she was going to smother him with a pillow.

“How dare you come into my life and start telling me what to do? Bad enough you tell me where to live, but now you want me to leave my job?”

“I’m just saying the older Noah gets, the harder it’s going to be for you to meet his schedule if you’re tending bar.”

“And what am I going to do that brings in this kind of money? I’d have to work three jobs to match what I’m making.”

“I told you, I’m going to start paying child support.”

“Even if you paid what I’m making now, which I know you can’t, because I know how it works with the rodeos, what would I do? I have a GED, Liam. Not a lot of options.”

He blew out a frustrated breath. “Then come on the road with me. You and Noah can live in the RV. Travel around the country.”

“And leave Teresa high and dry. You don’t understand. She babysits for me and asks for nothing more than for me to cover her part of the utilities. That’s, like, fifty dollars a month. And she babysits six nights a week. So, no. I’m not going on the road with you. I’m not moving. I’m not changing jobs.”

“I just want what’s best for you and Noah.”

“Who are you to decide what’s best? We were doing fine before you came back to town, Liam. I swear. I’m taking good care of him.”

“I know you are. I know. I just want better for you. For both of you.”

“There isn’t better. I mean, Christ, Liam, you’re a rodeo cowboy. You don’t know when you’re going to get paid. You don’t know if you’re going to get hurt. At least I have job security. And a home that doesn’t roll from place to place.”

He pushed to his feet. “Gotcha. I’m going to head out.”

She’d hurt him. She could see it by the set of his shoulders, the way he moved toward the door. Lord, she hadn’t intended to do that, but she hadn’t liked him looking too close to her life. Still, she hadn’t meant to turn it around on him.

Maybe it was best he left. Maybe it was best if he didn’t come back. Maybe he’d lose interest in Noah, in being a father, and when the rodeo moved on, so would he. She knew she should wish for that, but she couldn’t.

She also couldn’t go to him to apologize, not even when he stopped, hand on the doorknob, to look back at her. Instead, she merely folded her arms over her chest.

He nodded once, understanding, and walked out.

Grace didn't sleep at all after Liam left. All she could think about was that he had money and she didn't. He could go to a lawyer and take Noah away from her. Look what had happened to Teresa—her only daughter had been taken away by her ex’s family after they’d declared her an unfit mother. The fear that the same would happen to her had floated in the back of Grace’s mind for years, which is why she hadn’t told her parents about Noah. And now Liam wanted his rights, which she understood, but which left her vulnerable.

So instead of taking Noah to daycare the next morning, she took him to the rodeo.

She walked in through the back, where cowboys were coming and going. Noah went nuts over the animals again, wanting to ride a horse like he'd done with Liam the other night. But she was focused on finding Liam.

Instead, she found Luke, head bent in conversation with an older cowboy with bowed legs and baggy Wranglers. The old guy made Luke laugh, and when he did, he lifted his head and saw her. He sobered instantly.

So she was right. He didn't like her. Tough. She shifted Noah on her hip, her arms already tired from carting him around, and approached Luke.

"I'm looking for Liam."

"Not here."

Her heart squeezed. Could he be at a lawyer already? "Where can I find him?"

Luke shifted his weight and folded his arms over his chest. "I thought he'd been with you."

"So you don't know where he is?" That was what he meant, right, if he thought Liam had been with her?

"I know where he is. The question is, why wasn't he with you?"

She drew her shoulders up. She wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but if she did that, would he refuse to tell her what she needed to know? "We had a fight."

"And now you're using your son to get back in his good graces?"

Temper made all the blood rush to her face. Again, she battled it back. She'd clearly alienated this man already. She couldn't afford to make him an enemy. "I need to talk to him."

"Has he agreed to a paternity test?"

God, she did not want this conversation in front of her son. "Just because I was a stripper doesn't mean I was a whore.” She mouthed the last word with a glance at Noah. “Your brother could be very persuasive."

"I'm sure it took a lot."

Okay, so maybe it hadn't, but that was her business, and Liam's. Not Luke's.

"So you're not going to tell me where he is?"

"He's at the RV park across the way. Last I heard, he was on the phone with the insurance company about the truck. He was not in a happy place."

She winced. Something else to be laid at her feet. "Can you please just tell me where to find him?"

***

Grace stood outside the fifth wheel, holding her son's hand, and gawked. The RV park had an assortment of vehicles, but most were modest, most well-used. But this—this one was shiny and beige and black, with extensions that slid out to make it roomier. It was taller than the others, too, and had no doubt cost Liam a good sum of money. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to hit the road, forget about making nice. She was so out of her league here. Just when she'd decided to bail, the door opened and Liam looked down at her.

"Going to stand there all day?”

"I was about to go."

He arched his eyebrows. "You went to the trouble of hunting me down and then you were going to turn tail?"

She scowled. "Maybe I thought you'd be in this pleasant mood and so I wanted to spare myself the humiliation."

He pressed his lips together, and she couldn't tell what that meant.

"Come inside, have something to drink."

She'd come this way to make nice, and she had not started off on the right foot. She lifted Noah's hand to help him up the steps, then followed him into the vehicle.

If she thought the outside was shiny, the inside was even better. It was bigger than her first apartment, with a full kitchen, a couch, an armchair, a TV, even a fireplace. To her right, steps led to what she suspected was the bedroom. Good Lord, she couldn't imagine what this thing had cost. 

Liam crossed to the refrigerator built into the wall and opened it to reveal an assortment of drinks and other snacks. "What would you like?"

"Just water," she said, unsure of what to do with herself, with Noah. 

“What about you, buddy?” Liam asked Noah.

“Kool-Aid!”

“I don’t have that, but I have some orange juice. Good?”

“Good,” Noah said with a definitive nod.

"Sit down, if you want. Don't want to be telling you what to do."

"Can we, maybe, put on a show for him?" She'd thought bringing Noah would soften Liam's mood, so yeah, in the case Luke was right. But his presence was going to make conversation difficult. 

Without a word, Liam crossed to the TV, flicked it on, and flipped through channels until she told him to stop, when a familiar cartoon flashed on screen. Once Noah was settled, Grace turned to Liam.

"I need to know what you're planning to do." She barely got the words out around the tightness of her throat.

"About what?" he asked, his tone easy.

She didn't trust that tone. "Are you going to take my son away from me?"

"What?" He snapped his head up. "What gave you that idea?"

"I don't know, maybe your argument last night that I'm not a fit mother, that my job isn't fit, that I'm not providing for him." She waved her hand around the interior of the RV. "You can do better."

"Grace." He crossed over to place a hand on her arm. "I'm not going to take him away from you. I know how much you love him and want what's best for him. I know you are doing your best. I'm just trying to find a way so it's not so hard for both of you."

"We're doing fine."

But they weren't, not really. She knew that. She just didn't have a viable alternative. And she was going to count on him? This RV was nice, certainly, but it wasn't permanent. Nor was his job. Poor Noah. What a set of parents he had.

“You know what? We’re going to go. I shouldn’t have bothered you.” Because now she felt worse that she couldn’t give Noah luxuries like this, and a new car. And frickin’ pony rides. She pushed to her feet from the couch and gathered up Noah.

“Grace.” Liam stepped close and curved his hand over her cheek. “We can work on this together.”

She backed away. Until he’d come back, she’d been happy with her life. Not rich, sometimes stressed about making ends meet, but happy. “I need to think.”

“Come watch me ride tonight. It’s my first ride. I want to look up and see you in the stands.”

“Liam.”She shook her head and met his gaze. “Why?”

He threaded his fingers through her hair. “I just want you there, okay? I’ll have tickets waiting.”

***

Waiting to watch Liam ride felt a lot different this time than the last time she’d seen him ride. She couldn’t say why. Then, she’d been excited and proud to watch the man who shared her bed succeed. Now, she was nervous. What if he was hurt? What if something happened to end his career? What then?

How long would they last together? She had really only known him a couple of weeks. While he was kind, and sexy, and good to Noah, she didn’t know much else about him, other than he was an orphan whose dad had been tough on him and Luke. For that matter, he didn’t know much about her, either.

She pulled Noah into her lap to hold him still while the barrel racers sped around the arena. He’d had a long day and a fitful nap and his schedule had been disrupted. The whistling and cheers around them didn’t help him relax, and every time one of the food or beer vendors went by, he wanted her to buy something. She adjusted her so his head rested on her shoulder and rubbed his back to soothe him. He wouldn’t make it to see his daddy ride at this rate.

The calf ropers were next, then the bronc riders. According to the program, Liam was riding fourth. She hadn’t seen him this evening, didn’t know if he was nervous, if he’d gotten a good horse. She didn’t know much about rodeo, but she knew that was important.