Mistletoe Cowboy
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Leigh Riker
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17.1K
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21
CHAPTER ONE
“HE’S GETTING OUT.”
Her brother’s grim statement took Willow Bodine by surprise. Those few words shocked her, really, from the base of her blond ponytail to her polished boots. The hard tone of his voice, though, wasn’t the reason her heart skipped a beat. She turned from the dapple-gray horse she’d been grooming in the July morning sun outside the barn, one hand resting on Silver’s warm sleek neck, then schooled her expression to resemble what she hoped was a blank slate. Her brother was testing her. “Am I supposed to react to that?”
Zach’s mouth hardened, which seemed to be his default mode these days. Ever since their father’s death, he’d looked mostly serious and determined—Willow knew a lot of that was her fault. Zach, who’d inherited the responsibility for the WB Ranch, wore the mantle well on his broad shoulders and had taken up the family cause—initially their dad’s cause—about Cody Jones. “Just a warning,” Zach told her now.
She tried a shrug. “Cody and I are done. We were finished before he left Barren.”
Willow loved her brother. They’d been close until a few years ago when she’d practically destroyed their family because of her relationship with Cody. Since last December when their dad had died, she and Zach had been giving each other even more space.
He ran a hand through his hair, the color of dark honey. “Done? Left for a Kansas state prison, you mean. It’s not as if Jones went on vacation to Hawaii.”
Willow couldn’t imagine Cody taking a fancy trip like that. Her brother might sometimes tease, calling her the Bodine princess, but Cody had come from nothing. Worse than that, even. She’d never pitied him—Cody wouldn’t stand for that—but she’d always ached for him in her heart.
The prison was no beach resort—she’d seen that for herself. Without Zach’s knowledge, she’d visited Cody soon after his sentence had been handed down last fall, and she would never forget the sight of him in those ugly prison scrubs across a table from her with a barrier between them. When he’d edged his hand through the small gap under the window, the guard nearby had frowned. Willow had quickly pulled back. If Cody had touched her, he’d be in even deeper trouble, and she would have been lost again in the dark pools of his eyes. Instead, she’d jumped up from her chair, said a choked goodbye over her shoulder, then run to her car.
“I thought his sentence was eleven months,” she said at last, the maximum for the crime he’d committed. Why had he done such a foolish thing in the first place?
“Time off, I hear,” Zach said, “for ‘good behavior.’” His tone said that wasn’t possible.
Willow stopped stroking her horse’s neck. In her mind’s eye, she could see Cody, who stood over six feet, his hair the shade of summer wheat, those dark eyes with a hint of humor, even mischief. “Then he’s coming...home?” Not the wisest word she might have chosen.
A muscle ticked in Zach’s jaw. His hazel eyes flickered. “If Cody Jones shows up in Barren...” His grip tightened on his belt as if he were wearing a holster with a sidearm. “If he tries to see you...”
“Zach, I make my own decisions.” Cody was the worst of them in her brother’s opinion. And perhaps he was right.
He said, “Jones steps one foot on this property, I’ll—”
She threw up her hands. “What? End up in a holding cell at the sheriff’s office?”
“It would be worth it,” he said. “And talk about bad timing.”
Zach was right about that. In the months Cody had been gone, Willow had finally begun to date someone else, and recently their relationship had turned serious, more so at first on his part than Willow had been prepared to deal with. But then a few nights ago, she had made a choice—one that eliminated Cody from any further consideration. It was so new she couldn’t quite believe it was true.
“Jones broke your heart,” Zach reminded her and her chin went up.
“Maybe I broke his, too.”
He let out a harsh breath. “He’s a loser, Willow. A lot of sweet talk, no substance. What has he ever done except herd cattle? Well...and steal a few head, then set that barn on fire. Not exactly the kind of man you should have brought home to Mom. Didn’t Dad try to tell you about him?”
“Many times.” Willow leaned her head against her horse’s side. The mention of her father always made her eyes fill. During her worst times—after she and Cody broke up and he was arrested, then when her dad suffered a fatal heart attack for which she felt responsible—it was Silver that had listened to the hopelessness in Willow’s voice as she tried to make sense of things. To somehow absolve herself of guilt. A lot of what Zach said about Cody was true. “You may be my big brother, but you don’t need to worry about me.”
“Yes, I do.” That muscle jerked again. “I promised Dad I’d see to you and Mom.” He choked up. “That was the last thing I said to him, and I keep my promises. He’d be rolling over in his grave if you took up with Jones again.” He glanced at Willow’s hand and the new ring she wore. “Especially now.”
“Zach, lighten up. Why would I do that? Why are we having this discussion? Frankly, I feel insulted that you’d even mention him.” She tried to change the subject. “Worry about yourself, why don’t you—and the wife you still don’t have.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. This topic wasn’t his favorite either. “If you meant why am I not seeing anyone special, when would I find the time? I have my hands full with this ranch—if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll preserve it for this family, you included.”
Without another word, he disappeared into the barn, and Willow yearned for the simpler days when they’d been close. At least they weren’t talking about Cody now.
She had to hope he wouldn’t come anywhere near her.
PRISON HAD MADE a new man of him. A different one, anyway.
Cody Jones stepped out of Navarro Correctional Facility and took his first breath of free air in the better part of a year.
He gazed around, adjusting to the idea that he could do whatever he wanted now. Well, as long as he stayed in touch with his parole officer. He didn’t dare blow that off or he’d be making a return trip through these gates to finish his full sentence—if he messed up again, more time might be added. He was starting the long walk down the driveway to the road where he’d hitch a ride when he noticed a familiar speed-yellow truck parked in one of the visitors’ spots. The driver gave him a one-finger salute, which Cody hesitated to return. Having just gotten out, he shouldn’t take up again with the wrong people.
But then, he’d been one of them. And his former partner in crime—their ringleader—had reportedly reformed. Cody was still a work in progress.
“Derek Moran.” He strolled over to the pickup.
For a moment Cody considered the trouble he’d first gotten into with Derek and another guy, swiping cows from Wilson Cattle. Talk about dumb moves. They’d all avoided doing time for that after the ranch owner—Cody’s boss then—refused to press charges. But Cody had been fired, and he’d made matters worse in a stupid attempt at revenge. After first running away, he’d returned long enough to torch Grey Wilson’s barn and get himself sent up for arson. He had a lot to make up for now, a ton of apologies that needed to be said. “What’re you doing here, Moran?”
Dark haired with pale blue eyes, Derek jerked a thumb toward the prison. “Telling myself how lucky I was not to end up in that place.”
“Yep. You were,” Cody agreed. “Can’t complain, though.”
He tried what he hoped was a jaunty expression. “Three square meals a day, books to read, lots of exercise, no bills to pay...” But how much time would it really take before he saw himself as a free man, able to make his own choices again? To go anywhere he pleased?
Derek leaned an elbow on the open window. “How bad was it, really?”
“Bad at first,” he admitted. “Thought I’d go crazy locked up in there.”
Like Derek, Cody was used to being outdoors, having plenty of space to run, to ride, to just be. He flicked a glance toward the facility. He’d had plenty of company, though. The prison housed nearly two thousand men.
“I was lucky to be in minimum security. Even luckier to join their Wild Horse Program, training mustangs for adoption.” One horse in particular, he meant, and his heart turned over. Cody was leaving a piece of himself behind.
Derek’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? Horses? I’d rustle a few more head of cattle myself for that.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Trust me.” Cody’s gaze strayed again toward the farthest pasture, which he couldn’t see from here. The mare would be there, head down in the tall grass, tail switching at flies. He would miss her. In fact, his heart was already bleeding. He’d been so close to getting her ready for someone to buy, all the while wishing he could adopt her, start his own business. Make something of himself.
He wondered if that could even work out—kind of like him and Willow Bodine.
“So.” Derek shoved a hank of unruly hair off his face. “Need a ride?”
“Thanks.” He had no other plans, no place to go. Cody rounded the truck to the passenger side. He could open this door, slide inside this cab, barrel down this drive with Derek. A man like other men. A man who needed to prove himself to the world somehow and not screw up this time. He climbed in.
He never had to see Navarro again. His pulse thudded in his throat. I’m free.
Prison did change a man, not for the worse. He hoped. At least he would try his best to be a better person.
As they drove toward Barren, Cody half listened as Derek rattled on, catching him up on the local doings while Cody had been “away,” as he called it. Derek was still playing the field, though he’d recently met a woman online he thought he’d like in person. Calvin Stern, their coconspirator with the cattle, was now living with his girlfriend. Of their old trouble-raising trio, Cody was the odd man out. For a moment he felt tempted to hop out at the nearest crossroads, head for parts unknown and make a totally new life for himself where people didn’t know him. Except by the terms of his release, he had to stay in Stewart County. Still, he kept a hand on the door latch until all at once he really heard what Derek was saying. The last word stopped Cody’s ruminations as his stomach bottomed out.
“...engaged.” Derek slanted a look at Cody.
“Willow Bodine?” His blood stopped flowing. “She got engaged?”
“Just the other day. I wouldn’t have known, but I ran into her brother—at Earl’s Hardware—and he told me. Looked pleased as punch.”
“I bet he did.” Zachary Bodine had never liked Cody, but he liked him even less near Willow, and he’d probably hoped Derek might pass on this message. An ache settled behind Cody’s ribs. He’d made a lot of mistakes in his life—a straight streak through most of his twenties, especially here in Barren—that he needed to atone for, but he’d never thought Willow was one of them.
For a long moment, he entertained the fantasy of her, which had kept him sane during his time in prison. The mental image of her turned his knees weak. That silky blond hair to her waist, those cornflower blue eyes, her sassiness—at least with him. The lemon scent she always carried. There’d been a time when he thought Willow would find the courage to defy her father, leave home, choose Cody and become her own person, not the one other people thought they knew. His angel, he’d called her.
“You okay?” Derek glanced from the road. “Didn’t mean to hit you with that.”
“About Willow? Nah,” he managed. “We split up around the time I got arrested and way before my trial.” His throat ached. He tried to collect himself. Cody knew most of the eligible men in town, or he had before. Maybe someone new had swept her off her feet. “Who’s she planning to marry?”
“Thaddeus.”
Cody sank deeper into the passenger seat. “Thad Nesbitt?”
“How many Thaddeuses do you know?”
Cody could have groaned aloud.
“He’s had his eye on her for years, apparently,” Derek said.
And Thad was quite a catch, already well-off through his family and his dad’s profits from the oil fields up north. Before the old man had gone into politics, that is. A family of high achievers. Way out of Cody’s league, and to make matters worse Thad had been a member of the prosecution’s team at his trial.
“Did you hear Thad’s father is the state’s new attorney general?” Derek went on, the news getting more troubling with every word. “No wonder Zach couldn’t be happier. His baby sister got herself a real prize.”
What a pal, Derek. Thanks. Not that this didn’t seem like a foregone conclusion. Cody should have seen it coming. The Bodines and Nesbitts were among the first families in the state.
A black depression threatened to swamp Cody. Compared to Willow’s fiancé, he was a complete nobody, the polar opposite of Thad Nesbitt. Not well educated, not rich, not employed even. And now Cody had a criminal record. Why would Willow give him the time of day again? And why was Derek rubbing salt in his wounds?
Never one to brood, Cody straightened, his steely gaze on the road ahead.
While he’d languished in prison, dreaming of her, Willow had sure been busy. Falling in love with someone else. Not that she didn’t have a perfect right to do so.
“When’s the wedding?”
Derek tapped one finger against the steering wheel. “I don’t know, but the Bodines are putting on a big wingding of an engagement party soon.”
Cody almost wished he could bypass Barren. Yet it seemed he had unfinished business with Willow still-Bodine. And, obviously, not much time. Once the wedding plans got rolling, there’d be no stopping that train.
“I think I’ll have a talk with her anyway,” he said.
Which didn’t seem to surprise Derek.
