A Cowboy for the Twins
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Melinda Curtis
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17.9K
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21
PROLOGUE
“BE MY COWBOY VALENTINE?”
“Shh.” Tate Oakley refolded the small slip of paper in his hand and then held it away from his twin brother, Ryan, who, having uttered the words, was trying to snatch it.
Other kids passed them in the narrow hallway, including a cowgirl with long, reddish-brown hair and freckles.
She was the same cowgirl who’d slipped the note into Tate’s locker. The cowgirl who’d won his heart. The cowgirl who was dating one of his former foster brothers.
“Come on, Tate.” Ryan kept trying to steal Ellie Rowland’s homemade valentine from Tate’s hand. “I didn’t see who signed it. There were too many hearts in the way.”
“Stop it, Ry.” Tate swatted at his brother with his straw cowboy hat, noting that Ellie had rounded a corner at the end of the corridor, likely heading toward the science lab.
Ryan took a step back. “Tell me it’s not from Nia Plevins.”
“It’s not.” Tate settled his hat back on his head and leaned forward to whisper his all-burning question: “When did Ellie break up with Buck?”
Buck, who was one of the few foster teens who hadn’t fit in at the Done Roamin’ Ranch with the Harrison family. Buck, who blamed everyone else for his problems, scorned the advice of and spurned the love from Frank and Mary Harrison. Buck, who’d been dating Ellie off and on this year.
“I don’t know when they broke up, but...” Ryan’s eyes widened. “Remember what Dad said about no love triangles? And what he said about treating Buck like he’s still a member of the family? All to keep the peace?” Ryan referred to their foster father. No good advice was ever to be had from their biological dad, who had disappointed his boys in more ways than one.
“It’s not a love triangle. Ellie and Buck broke up for good this time.” Tate assumed. He tried to reason it out in his head. “Because she asked me to be her valentine. She wouldn’t do that if—”
“She didn’t want to make Buck jealous?” Ryan was always glass half-empty. He frowned. “Or maybe Buck knows you’ve had a crush on her forever and he had someone write the note for him. Or—”
“I get the idea.” Tate shoved a wayward notebook back into his locker. But what he couldn’t shove away was his compulsion to be near Ellie. “I’ll be careful. But Ellie might need a friend right now.” Even if his heart hoped she wanted more.
Tate closed his locker and headed toward science class.
Ryan fell into step next to him. “Okay. But your idea of careful and my idea of careful are two different things.”
