Marrying the Cowboy Read online

  When she ended the call, she walked toward him. “You look like you’re about to slip into a coma.”

  “That’s pretty much what I feel like.”

  “I’m so sorry about your house.”

  “Yeah, me, too.” He rubbed his burning, itching eyes with the heels of his hands then glanced over at Sierra. “Listen, I’m just going to sack out in the back. I’m too dang tired to even walk to the car.”

  “Okay.”

  Somehow he found enough energy to push himself to his feet and head back toward the collection of holding cells. Blue Falls wasn’t exactly a hotbed of crime, so they didn’t have any residents tonight. Pete picked the first stall only because it required the fewest amount of steps to reach and collapsed onto the bunk. It wasn’t comfy by any stretch of the imagination, but he was pretty sure he’d sleep like a baby on a concrete floor at this point.

  Despite his exhaustion, he stared up at the ceiling and replayed everything that had happened since he’d made a mad dash for the storm shelter he shared with Verona and Elissa, hoping they were already inside. By the time he’d seen that they weren’t, it was too late. Going back out into the storm would have been nothing more than suicide.

  So he’d sat in the dark listening to the world ripping apart, his heart hammering, praying that they would be okay, cursing that he hadn’t had time to get them to the shelter, as well. That was his job, protecting people, and he’d felt like an utter failure as he could only imagine what all the noise above him meant.

  Pete rubbed his aching eyes and then forced himself to keep them closed, to try to quiet his mind. But the images kept up their barrage, preventing him from getting the sleep he needed.

  The swath of destroyed homes, the uprooted trees, the debris spread across what felt like the entire county. The disbelief and sorrow on Elissa’s face as she’d stared at the damaged nursery. Sure, he’d lost his home, but it was just a house, the place where he’d lived after moving out on his own. The things that hurt were those that he couldn’t replace, especially the family photos. His heart squeezed, making him wince. He couldn’t even take new photos to replace them with his parents both gone.

  He shook his head, unwilling to think about that now. His thoughts drifted back to Elissa, to the shocked disbelief on her face that had seemed so out of character. It was rare to see Elissa Mason anything other than smiling or being deliberately ornery in pursuit of laughter. To see her standing there in the rain looking at the ruins of her nursery would have kicked him in the gut even if he hadn’t already been reeling from his own loss.

  He considered rousting himself and going to her house to make sure she was okay, but his body just wasn’t willing to comply. It was as if everything other than his brain had temporarily forgotten how to function. As the thoughts continued to fly, he realized they were making less and less sense. The last thing he remembered before he stopped thinking altogether was the look of relief on Elissa’s face when she’d jerked open that shelter door. The edge of his lips ticked up as sleep finally claimed him.

  When he opened his eyes again, it felt as if he’d just closed them. He blinked several times, disoriented. It took a moment for him to realize that someone was standing over him, a couple more seconds for the person’s face to come into focus.

  “Really?” Verona said, her arms crossed. “You prefer a jail bunk to my empty guest room?”

  Pete swallowed and blinked a bit more sleep from his eyes. As he lifted himself to a sitting position, he grimaced against the crick in his back. As he stretched the aching muscles, he reminded himself to never do anything that would make him a forced guest in this cell. He was beginning to think the concrete floor actually would have been preferable.

  “Well?” Verona said.

  “Sorry. I was just too tired to drive over. I did good to make it this far.”

  “Well, then, I suggest you quit work a little earlier tonight. You give me a time, and I’ll have a nice hot meal ready for you.”

  “Verona, really—”

  “Boy, how long have you known me?”

  Pete ran his hand over his face. “Forever.”

  “Then you should know you’re not going to win an argument with me.” She ruffled his already mussed hair as if he were a little boy.

  His heart ached at the gesture, at the memory of his mom doing the same thing. He nodded. “Okay.”

  “Good. Now if I can just convince that niece of mine to come home at a decent time.” Verona turned and headed out of the cell, no doubt shifting her efforts to Elissa.

  By the time he put in another long day, he didn’t need any convincing to head for Verona’s and the promised hot meal. Plus, the lure of a real bed instead of the torture rack of a cell bunk would be enough to make him crawl all the way to his street.

  * * *

  ELISSA STRETCHED HER back and stared at the heaping pile of lost revenue she’d spent the past two days constructing at the edge of the nursery parking lot. Dead plants and shredded lumber mingled with countless chunks of broken pottery and twisted metalwork. The pile was an ugly reminder of all she’d lost in the space of a few minutes, but she couldn’t get rid of it until she dealt with the insurance adjuster, whenever that might be.

  Like the restoration of electricity, dealing with all the claims in the area was going to take time, no matter how badly she wished she could move both things into the “taken care of” column on her to-do list.

  Left with barely any daylight, she turned and dragged her tired, overworked body toward her SUV. Her stomach growled to remind her that she’d not been eating enough to fuel all the work she was doing. Her employees had helped out earlier in the day, but they’d been gone for a couple of hours. She’d worked from near daybreak to dark the past two days, and she still didn’t feel as if she’d made a dent.

  Still, she couldn’t complain too much, not when two lives had been lost at the edge of the county and others besides Pete had lost their homes. At least she had a comfortable place to sleep at night, some peace and normality. Suddenly, nothing sounded better than collapsing into her bed and sleeping for twelve hours straight.

  As she drove back into the main part of Blue Falls, the lights blazing in the windows told her that electricity had been restored. When she reached the house and pulled into the garage beside Verona’s little car, Elissa didn’t immediately get out. Fatigue settled on her along with the realization that if she didn’t get more sleep tonight, she was going to run out of steam way before she got the nursery property cleaned up and on the road to recovery. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, felt herself drifting.

  Pecking on the window startled her fully awake. She gasped at the sight of someone standing there, someone not Verona, until she realized it was Pete. With a shake of her head, she unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out.

  “What are you trying to do, scare me to death?”

  “You’ve been sitting out here for ten minutes.”

  “And you know this how?”

  Pete crossed his arms and leaned one hip against the fender of her vehicle. “Because Verona and I are hungry, and we were waiting for you to come in.”

  That’s when she caught the distinctive scent of freshly baked bread. Elissa’s stomach growled loudly at the mention of food.

  Pete smiled. “Looks like we’re not the only ones hungry.”

  “I can’t decide if I’m more hungry or exhausted.”

  “Also know how that feels.” Pete nodded toward the door that led into the kitchen. “Come on. She made chicken and dumplings.”

  Comfort food. That’s what they all needed right now, even though dumplings were usually winter fare. She made her way into the kitchen and collapsed onto the nearest chair.

  As Verona set a fresh basket of yeast rolls on the table, she squeezed Elissa’s shoulder. “You’
re working too hard, honey.”

  “It won’t get done if I don’t work. And the longer it takes, the longer I don’t have any income.”

  Verona slipped into her chair at the opposite end of the table as Pete pulled out a chair between them and sank onto it, looking every bit as tired as Elissa felt.

  “All I’m saying is that it won’t hurt anything to sleep in a bit tomorrow, both of you.”

  Throughout dinner, they talked about the storm’s aftermath.

  “It’s so sad about the Claytons,” Verona said with a shake of her head. None of them really knew the older couple, but they’d seemed nice enough when they’d come into town from their posts as hosts at the state park campground several miles out of town. They’d been found in the twisted remains of their RV. “But it’s a miracle no one else was killed.” Verona patted Pete’s hand.

  Elissa’s frazzled emotions had a lump forming in her throat at the idea of how close Pete had come to also being a casualty. She’d never lost a close friend, and the mere thought made her want to cry buckets. And she wasn’t even a crier. It was a sure sign that she needed sleep even more than she’d suspected.

  “This was delicious,” Elissa said. “But I’ve got to hit the hay before I do a face-plant in my bowl.” She started to take her bowl to the sink until Verona waved it back down to the table, indicating she’d take care of the dishes.

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Pete said, and stood, too.

  As Elissa crossed the living area toward the hallway to the bedrooms, it dawned on her that she had no idea where Pete was staying. She turned to ask him only to find him right behind her. “You’re staying here?”

  “Yep. Your aunt threatened me with bodily harm if I didn’t.”

  “I did not,” Verona called from the kitchen.

  “Close enough.” Pete smiled, and even though his fatigue mirrored her own, it was good to see that smile.

  She wasn’t sure she’d be able to do the same in his situation. It was tough enough in her own.

  “You don’t mind sharing your space with a smelly boy?”

  Elissa actually laughed a little at that, remembering the long-ago comment she’d made when he and Greg Bozeman had tried to sandwich her between them during a particularly sweaty P.E. class.

  “As long as you remember to put the toilet seat down, you’re safe.”

  He gave her a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and resumed her trek to her bedroom. After making quick work of ditching her dirty clothes and slipping into her pajamas, she snuggled into her comfortable bed. It wasn’t until she heard the distinctive squeak in the next room that she remembered the guest bed was just on the other side of the wall, pushed long-ways along the wall as hers was. And for some odd reason, it felt weird to be lying in her bed that close to Pete. When she suddenly wondered what he slept in, she knew she’d gone way, way too long without sleep. She rolled over to place her back toward the wall, but damned if that same question didn’t plague her until she finally succumbed to the sandman.

  Chapter Three

  By the time Pete woke the next morning, the sun was streaming in the window and the little digital clock read 10:30 a.m. And despite the fact that he was in an unfamiliar bed, he didn’t think he’d slept that well in months, so much so that he didn’t want to move. Since he didn’t have to work until the afternoon shift, he lay right where he was for several more minutes, making a mental to-do list. He’d rather go out to the stables for a ride, but he didn’t have time. First thing he needed to do was find some cheap transportation. He’d get an insurance settlement eventually, but he couldn’t wait that long. He had a mess to clean up next door, and that required a truck.

  Though he hated to do so, he forced himself to get up. Nothing on that to-do list was going to get done if he stayed in bed all day. It was likely that Elissa and Verona had been up for hours. But when he stepped into the hall, the house was quiet. Elissa was probably already out at the nursery, and Verona wasn’t a woman to sit idly at home when there were things to do and people to help.

  He pulled on the clothes he’d taken off the previous night and made his way to the shower. He’d been standing under the hot water for a few minutes when his thoughts drifted to the night before. He’d listened as Elissa moved around in her room, how she seemed to be tossing and turning a lot after she went to bed. He’d gotten the distinct sense that something was bothering her. No doubt it was thoughts of the destruction to her business. Other than that, Elissa had always been carefree and perpetually happy.

  As he shampooed his hair, for some reason his thoughts went back much further, to when Elissa had first moved in with Verona at the beginning of their freshman year. He’d been instantly in love. Well, as in love as hormonal teenage boys could get. But he’d also been the world’s biggest chicken when it came to girls and had never let her know how he felt, not even when they’d been paired up in history to create a diorama.

  They had worked long hours creating the Coliseum in Rome filled with gladiators on the sand and bloodthirsty spectators in the stands, but he still hadn’t gotten up the nerve to ask her out. Eventually, the crush had faded away, leaving a close friendship. They’d worked together at the nursery in high school, and she’d been the one to encourage him to apply to the state police academy after his mother’s cancer went into remission.

  He swallowed hard against the pain that still felt fresh, the knowledge that the cancer had returned and taken her life. He might be a grown man now, but there were times when he still felt like an orphan with both of his parents gone.

  Pete shoved the thoughts away as he turned off the water and grabbed a towel. He had enough current problems to worry about without dragging up old sorrows. When he dried off, it hit him that he needed to address one concern before even a new vehicle. Clothes.

  He stared at the rumpled jeans and T-shirt he’d had stowed in his locker at work. Without them he’d still be running around in the shorts and tee he’d had on when the storm hit. He had some new uniforms ordered, but he needed nonduty clothes pronto. Hell, he needed everything. Which meant he had to first go to the bank and get a new debit card. Damn, life was a pain in the ass when everything you owned blew away.

  He rummaged in the cabinets until he found an unopened toothbrush. He needed to shave, too, but he’d wait until he could buy his own razor. It was bad enough that he was pilfering a toothbrush. Something about that act caused the events of the past couple of days to slam into him as he finished brushing his teeth. He cursed and shook his head. After rinsing the brush and his mouth, he stood with his hands pressed against the countertop for several seconds as he allowed himself a mini pity party. But then he turned on the faucet, splashed his face with cold water and toweled it away.

  Feeling sorry for himself had never worked to his favor, so he wasn’t about to start now. Instead, he pulled on his worn jeans, thankful at least that there was one more clean T-shirt in the guest room.

  He opened the bathroom door and was greeted with a yelp.

  * * *

  ELISSA COULDN’T BELIEVE she’d slept so late. After she’d finally gone to sleep the night before, she didn’t remember anything. Usually she woke up at least once in the night, but not last night. She’d slept like not just a log but a petrified log. She rubbed her hand over her face, trying to wipe away the groggy feeling.

  As she reached for the bathroom door, it opened. She came fully awake with a cry of surprise. Her heart hammered against her breastbone until she realized it was only Pete and not some burglar who’d had to take a tinkle break before robbing her blind.

  But as she looked up at him and noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt, her heart refused to slow its frantic pace. The bare skin was damp and probably warm from the shower. And when did Pete Kayne get so ripped?

  “Sorry, I th
ought you were gone already.”

  At the sound of Pete’s voice, the voice of her friend, she snatched her gaze away from his chest to find an awkward, embarrassed look on his face. She half turned and gestured vaguely toward her room. “I think I sort of slipped into a coma last night.”

  “Me, too.”

  She forced herself to meet his eyes as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on, that she hadn’t just ogled the pectorals of one of her best friends. “Are you late for work?”

  He shook his head. “On this afternoon.”

  She glanced at the bathroom behind him.

  “Sorry,” he said again, this time moving out of the doorway to give her access. “I’ve got errands to run.”

  Pete hurried past her toward the guest room. Unable to help herself, she glanced over her shoulder. Damn, his back was every bit as well cut as his chest, a fact that she would have been much better off not knowing. Even after he slipped into the room and shut the door behind him, she didn’t move. Memories started tumbling through her head, and she realized she’d never seen Pete without a shirt on. And now she feared she’d never be able to forget the sight.

  With a shake of her head, she entered the bathroom and locked the door behind her. It wasn’t as if she thought Pete was going to suddenly burst in, but she had the strangest feeling that she needed that extra barrier.

  She pressed her hand against her forehead to see if she was feverish. Warm, yes, but she had the awful sense that the warmth had nothing to do with sickness and everything to do with embarrassment.

  Even when she shucked her pajamas and stepped into the shower, she couldn’t stop thinking about how Pete’s lean muscles and toned skin had beckoned to her, begging her to run her hands up and over them. And then her traitorous brain shifted to thoughts of how Pete had stood in this shower naked only a short time before. Her entire body heated up more than could be accounted for by the stream of hot water.