Her Lone Cowboy

He was looking for a quiet place to heal

From the hair-raising moment he rescues his neighbor’s young son from an overprotective wild mare, wounded vet Caleb Ransom knows he’ll have no peace. Living an isolated existence on his Arizona cattle ranch is out of the question with the intrusive Delaney Reynolds around. And once the single mother’s little boy starts bonding with Caleb’s mutt, it may be time to surrender... Because she’s making Caleb yearn for something he didn’t even know he wanted.

Laney started to reach for Sam, but Caleb stopped her.

“I’ve got this,” he said, lifting Sam easily and holding him against his shoulder.

Her little boy sighed and snuggled his face against Caleb’s throat.

A look flashed across Caleb’s face that Laney couldn’t quite decipher. It was a combination of surprise and tenderness and something else she’d never seen there before. Joy, maybe?

Carrying Sam, Caleb turned away, heading for the barn. She followed slowly, watching the way Caleb adjusted his gait to compensate for the additional thirty-five pounds he was carrying. He held Sam tightly, and she knew that if he was in danger of stumbling, he would fall on his wounded leg before he would let Sam hit the ground.

She realized that if she wasn’t very careful, she could fall in love with him.

Dear Reader,

Sweetsilver, Arizona, is the home of Delaney Reynolds and her son, Sam, an adventurous four-year-old who is crazy about all things cowboy. Laney is a high school teacher and, in summer, a wildland firefighter. She and Sam have recently moved into their new home, which is right next to reclusive rancher, Caleb Ransom. Laney’s biggest challenge is keeping her son off Caleb’s property.

Caleb chose this ranch in the Sonoran Desert to raise cattle and horses and to heal from the physical and emotional wounds he’d received while deployed as a soldier. He simply wants to be left alone.

Sam has other ideas. The curious boy is unable to resist visiting Caleb and his animals, especially his dog, Bertie, who becomes Sam’s instant best friend. Whenever Sam shows up, his attractive mother is never far behind, making it impossible for Caleb to have the solitary existence he desires.

Like most Americans, I love the cowboy mystique. There’s something so appealing about a rugged outdoorsman who spends much of his time alone, or with his animals, honing skills such as roping, which most of us will never master. I thought about that continually as I was writing Her Lone Cowboy and I tried to do justice to the cattlemen who helped shape our country.

I hope you enjoy Caleb and Laney’s story, my first Mills & Boon Heartwarming book, and will visit my website, patriciaforsythebooks.com, to see what else I’ve written. Also, drop by heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com to meet other Mills & Boon Heartwarming authors.

Happy reading,

Patricia

Her Lone Cowboy

Patricia Forsythe

www.millsandboon.co.uk

If it hadn’t been for a seventh-grade teacher who told PATRICIA FORSYTHE that her story characters were, well, crazy, she probably would never have become a writer. She didn’t think that was such a bad thing. After all, she has a large, extended family of decidedly interesting and unusual people who provide ideas and inspiration for her books. In Patricia’s opinion, that only makes them more lovable and worthy of a place in literature.

A native Arizonan, Patricia has no concept of what a real winter is like, but she is very familiar with summer. She has held a number of jobs, including teaching school, working as a librarian and as a secretary, and operating a care home for developmentally disabled children. Her favorite occupation, though, is writing novels in which the characters get into challenging situations and then work their way out. Each situation and set of characters is different, so sometimes the finished book is as much a surprise to her as it is to the readers. She is the author of many romance novels for Harlequin and Kensington Books and currently also self-publishes ebooks. She is thrilled to see the publication of Her Lone Cowboy, her first Harlequin Heartwarming novel.

Visit the Author Profile page at www.millsandboon.com for more titles.

This book is dedicated to Roz Denny Fox and Vicki Lewis Thompson, my good friends, who have been such a source of encouragement, friendship and joy that words can’t express my gratitude.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT WAS THAT? Caleb Ransom pulled on Cisco’s reins and brought the horse to a stop. He stood in the stirrups and looked across the pasture to where he’d seen something black moving along at a steady clip. Was it a dog? A coyote? One of the barn cats?

Whatever it was, it was heading toward Addie and her new filly.

Caleb’s eyes widened when he identified the little boy he’d seen hanging over the fence the past couple of days—and the boy was moving straight for the most overprotective mare Caleb had ever seen.

Sitting back down, he spurred Cisco into action. They galloped across the field, Caleb leaning forward in the saddle, urging his horse on.

* * *

WHERE WAS HE?

Delaney Reynolds hurried down the front steps of her house and made a frantic sweep of the front yard.

“Sam!” she called, as she had been calling for the past five minutes. Her son was one fast-moving four-year-old. He’d been equally fast at three, two and one. He had walked at nine months and she hadn’t had an easy day since. Her dearest hope was that she would be able to bring his adventurous nature under control and he would live to grow up.

His favorite hangout was the rail fence between her property and the one next door, whose owner kept cattle and horses. Sam was desperate to make friends with those horses. She had warned him away and threatened that he would find himself sitting in the “naughty chair” in the corner of the kitchen for a very long time if he disobeyed, but she had the sick feeling that his enthrallment with the horses had overcome his fear of forced immobility.

Laney climbed the fence and from the top rail, gazed out over the pasture, searching for Sam.

A hundred yards in front of her she finally saw a little black cowboy hat bouncing through the tall brush and grass toward a mare and her baby. Coming from the opposite direction was a horse and rider, heading straight for her son.

“Sam!”

Clamping her hands on the fence rail, she pushed off and ran, arms pumping, feet pounding.

* * *

CALEB KNEW THAT if he didn’t reach the kid before he got to Addie’s foal, there was a good chance the mare would turn aggressive. She hadn’t let Caleb near her foal for the first three days of its life and still watched him nervously, hooves dancing and head tossing when he came close or approached with a less-than-soothing voice. There was no way she would let this pint-size stranger touch her filly.

Caleb’s advance, at right angles from the child’s, would spook Addie, but there was nothing he could do about that. He could only hope that if she spooked, it would be away from the little boy.

As he’d expected, the sound of Cisco’s pounding hooves caught Addie’s attention. She lifted her head and swung it around to see what was going on. Her gaze fixed on Caleb and Cisco, but then, unerringly, her attention focused on the little boy who was closing in fast. She shook her head vigorously, then lowered it, a sure sign she was going to head-butt the child. Snorting, she pawed the ground.

Alarmed, Caleb saw that the boy was oblivious to the danger he was in because he wasn’t stopping or even slowing down. Addie, used and abused by drug smugglers and then abandoned, pregnant, in the desert, was already wary of people. Caleb couldn’t begin to guess how she might react to this kid, but he expected it wouldn’t be good.

Addie moved to stand between her baby and this small, determined human.

Before she could take more than a step toward the boy, though, Caleb was there, reins in his right hand, left arm outstretched, leaning over in the saddle as far as he could. He clamped his right leg against Cisco’s ribs as he bent, hoping that his weakened muscles would hold and not cramp up on him. With a mighty swing, he snagged the little boy by the back of his shirt and swept him up in front of him.

The kid shrieked in alarm as he was swung up and set just behind the saddle horn.

Caleb kept Cisco at a gallop as he wheeled around and away from Addie.

When they were far enough, he pulled his horse up, set the little boy on the ground and dismounted. Cisco, always happy to eat, ripped up a mouthful of grama and began chewing the grass placidly.

Caleb dropped Cisco’s reins, then took off his hat and clapped it against his leg. It wasn’t dusty, but he needed to do something to calm himself. He knew that turning this kid over his knee and paddling his little butt wasn’t an option. His heart was still pounding and alarm prickled along his nerve endings as he thought about what could have happened to the boy.

He placed his hat on his head and took several deep breaths. When he could trust himself to speak he said, “What were you doing?”

To his surprise, the boy took off his own cowboy hat and clapped it against his leg. Then he resettled it on his head just as Caleb had done and took a few deep breaths, too. Caleb would have thought the boy was mocking him if he hadn’t had such a solemn expression on his face.

Finally the kid said, “I wanted to see the pony.”

Caleb didn’t bother to correct the child’s misconception by telling him the difference between a pony and a week-old filly. He had a more important goal in mind.

“You’re trespassing,” he said.

The kid’s big brown eyes grew indignant. “Not trepsassing,” he said then frowned. “What’s trepsassing?”

“Being where you’re not supposed to be.”

“I was visiting.”

“You could have gotten hurt.”

The kid gave Caleb a look that appeared to question Caleb’s sanity. “That little pony couldn’t hurt me.”

“Her mother could and she would have, too, if I hadn’t come along and grabbed you.”

The little boy’s face lit up and he gave a little hop of excitement. “That was fun! Can we do it again?”

“No!”

Stymied, Caleb stared down at the boy. He didn’t seem scared or even intimidated. He thought the whole terrifying episode had been fun!

The boy tilted his head back to look up at him and then stuck out his hand. “My name’s Sam,” he said. “Me and my mom live over yonder.”

Yonder? Who had this kid been talking to? Caleb put out his hand to shake Sam’s but before they made contact the noise of someone crashing through the brush caught his attention. He looked over to see a woman racing toward them. She barely seemed to notice the greasewood and acacia branches that whipped against her legs and plucked at her jeans and shirt as she ran. When she saw that Caleb knew she was there, she slowed to a fast walk, her chest heaving with the effort of fighting for breath. She lifted a hand in acknowledgment.

As she neared, Caleb had the chance to observe her. She was tall, maybe five-eight, and more full-figured than skinny. Her hair was dark brown shot with sorrel red and pulled back into a ponytail that swung as she moved. Her features were strong, with a straight nose and full lips. He would call her good-looking rather than pretty, if he was going to call her anything—which he wasn’t. He could tell right away where her son had gotten his big brown eyes.

Because he found himself admiring her looks, he scowled at her. He didn’t want this kind of complication, didn’t need it and didn’t need this woman and her kid right next door. He’d liked it when the old Reynolds place had been empty and forlorn. It suited his purposes—and his disposition—just fine.

“Thank...thank you for gr-grab...bing him out of the way,” the woman said, gasping for breath as she hurried up to them. She pressed a hand to her side where she must have developed a cramp. “I...I didn’t realize what was happening. I th-thought you didn’t see him and might run him down...then I saw that mare and colt.”

Against his will, Caleb was touched by her concern for her son and by the flush of exertion on her cheeks.

“It’s a filly,” Caleb said.

She blinked and her head drew back. “Oh, of course, a filly.” She looked at him for a couple of seconds as if she expected him to say more. When he remained silent, she turned to her son, going down on one knee in front of him and grasping his shoulders so that he was forced to look at her.

“Sam, what did I tell you about leaving our property?”

He screwed up his face. “What’s property?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you try to be tricky. I’ve told you many times in the past few days that our property is our house and yard and that’s where you’re supposed to stay.”

The little boy turned his head, avoiding his mother’s firm gaze. “Maybe I forgot.”

“Maybe?”

He jerked his small thumb toward the mare and her foal. “That pony wanted me to come play.”

“How do you know that?”

“’Cause I just know,” he said stubbornly.

She sighed. “Never mind what the pony wants. I want you to stay in our yard.” She forced him to keep eye contact with her for a few more seconds. When his gaze skittered guiltily away from hers, she said, “We’ll talk about this at home. You’re going to be in time-out.”

“Aw, Mom,” Sam said in an injured voice, sticking out his bottom lip and crossing his arms over his chest.

She turned to Caleb and held out her hand. “I apologize for my son. I’m Delaney Reynolds—Laney to my friends—and this is Sam. You’re Caleb Ransom, right?”

Caleb looked down at that hand—long-fingered with unpolished nails. It looked competent, as did she. Deep inside him something stirred, reacting to the intensity of her. He hadn’t experienced this emotion for a long, long time, but he knew it for exactly what it was—longing.

He kept his arms firmly at his sides until her open smile faded.

She finally dropped her proffered hand to her son’s head.

“Yes, I’m Caleb Ransom,” he acknowledged with a nod. “This is my property. Your son could have been in real danger.”

Again her head pulled back at his curt tone and she stammered out an apology. “I realize that and I’m very sorry...”

Caleb tilted his head toward Addie. “That mare doesn’t like anyone coming around her foal. She’ll hardly let me come near. If Sam had gotten too close, she would’ve head-butted him or, worse, kicked him.”

Her face had been flushed from running, but now it paled. “I...I didn’t...”

“Have either of you ever been around horses before?”

“Yes, of course.” Her arms came up to cross over her chest, mimicking her son’s stance. Caleb decided not to see how charming that was.

“Then you should have some idea how dangerous it is for a little kid like this to run up and surprise a mare. You don’t have any idea what could happen, do you? Which is why you need to stay on your own property.”

Anger sparked in her eyes.

Good, he thought. Maybe that meant she’d stay away.

“We will certainly stay on our own property,” she said, reaching to take her son’s hand. “Won’t we, Sam?”

Silence. Both adults looked down at the bent head hiding under the black hat. Laney cupped her son’s chin, lifting his face so that his eyes met hers. His brow wrinkled and his nose crinkled as he gazed at his mom.

Caleb wondered if the little guy was trying to figure out how to sound as though he was agreeing with his mom without really agreeing with her.

“Won’t we, Sam?” she repeated.

“Okay, Mommy,” he said.

She looked up and met Caleb’s gaze. “Thank you again for saving my son’s life. We’ll stay off your property and leave you alone.”

“It’s best if you stay out of this pasture,” he said, emphasizing this point. She, and this boy, disturbed him. “Be a good idea if you passed that along to your husband, too.”

Her dark eyes flashed angrily. “I’m not married. Goodbye, Mr. Ransom,” she said, turning and pulling her son with her. The boy went willingly enough, but after a few steps, she swung him up into her arms, transferring him smoothly to her hip, her head bending close to his as she walked, his short legs bumping against her with each step.

Caleb wondered if she was reminding her son to stay off the neighbor’s land, or if the two of them were discussing what a mean old grump he was. Either way, he didn’t care so long as they left him alone.

He swung onto Cisco’s back, ready to ride away. It was impossible for him to keep his eyes off the pair of them, though. Their heads were close together, her dark hair shining in the sun. She strode confidently ahead, her arm holding the boy safe. They were a solid unit of two.

Suddenly, Sam twisted in his mom’s arms, whipped off his hat and lifted an arm to wave at Caleb.

“I’ll see you later, Mr. Ramson,” he called, mangling Caleb’s name. His big brown eyes, shock of dark hair and wide grin were like a punch to Caleb’s gut. He nearly doubled over in the saddle.

Memory washed over him, making his breath cut through his lungs like a sharp blade. With iron will, he shoved the image that had seared his mind back to the place where he kept it secured. Still, it was several long seconds before he could wrestle the image of desert sand, hot sun and the face of a grinning little boy into the vault. Finally he straightened and gathered Cisco’s reins into his hands.

He’d worked long and hard to get this peaceful little corner of the world, and he wasn’t going to let them disrupt it. He clucked his tongue and headed Cisco toward home.

* * *

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER Sam was still sitting in the time-out chair, stealing sidelong glances at his mother and punctuating the air with aggrieved sighs. For her part, Laney had almost stopped shaking from the combination of fright for her son and anger at her neighbor.

“The man certainly has the right to his privacy,” she muttered as she trimmed shelf paper to fit a kitchen cabinet. “But does he have to be so rude?”

“Maybe he needs to sit in the naughty chair,” Sam said brightly. “I could go tell him.”

Laney pointed a purposeful finger at him. “You stay right where you are, young man. You’re not going anywhere.”

Sam frowned and settled down with another sigh. He spread his knees out to each side of the small chair seat and leaned over to look underneath it. Then he started to kick a leg with each foot, thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump in rhythm.

“Wish I had somebody to play with,” he said, peeking at his mom. She didn’t respond. “I wanna play with Logan and Shane.”

“You’ll see them soon enough.”

“Does Mr. Ramson have kids?”

Laney paused and glanced at him. Sam had scooted so far forward on the chair and stuck his head so far under the stool that he was in danger of landing on his head.

“It’s Ransom,” she corrected him. “Now, Sam, sit up straight.” When he complied, she said, “And I don’t know if he has kids for you to play with.”

“He looked mean.”

Laney wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want Sam to be afraid of their neighbor, but she didn’t want him to be a pest, either. She certainly wanted Sam to stay on their property. It was impossible to keep him safe if she didn’t know where he was. Raising a boy was a bigger challenge than she’d ever anticipated.

Sam was right. Ransom did look mean.

“What’s that guy’s problem, anyway?” Laney muttered. She finished lining the shelf, stacked the plates neatly inside and closed the door with a satisfied snap, then ran her hand over the worn surface of the birchwood.

The cabinets were probably much older than she was, no doubt original to the house, which had been built in the early 1950s by her great uncle, Calvin Reynolds, and left to her when he passed away last year. Everything about the place showed its age, but it was solidly built, the roof was only a few years old and her dad, brother and friends had gotten together and surprised her with a new paint job, inside and out. Somehow, they’d known her favorite colors and which ones to paint on the walls of which rooms. That had probably been her mom’s influence, since she and Vivian had spent hours discussing décor, design and color choices.

But best of all, the house was hers; security for Sam and for her. Now the money she’d been spending on rent for that apartment in town could go into savings and into Sam’s college fund, where most of the child support money from Sam’s father went. It was another brick in the solid foundation of protection she was building for her son.

She had a good job—two good jobs—friends and family. She had a retirement fund, life insurance and a will giving custody of Sam to her brother Ethan and his wife if anything should happen to her. Now she had a house and land. There was a good pasture she could rent out to a neighbor if she wished, with a small freshwater stream—a rarity in southern Arizona—that dried up or just trickled most of the year but ran full during the summer monsoon rains. She remembered playing in the creek as a child and hoped to give Sam that same pleasure in a few weeks—if she could keep him in one piece until then.

She was grateful for the financial security she now had and for the family members who had stood by her, helped and supported her throughout her life and throughout every stupid mistake she had made. They had showed her love and compassion every day of her life. They had also ingrained in her the belief that God had put people on earth to help each other.

She glanced up guiltily, her gaze traveling to Caleb’s pasture, which she could see from her kitchen window. Maybe she should give some consideration to showing her neighbor some compassion.

Caleb Ransom. She had barely given him a moment’s thought since she’d moved in, but now that she’d met him she couldn’t get him off her mind.

Laney tried to think back over what she had heard about him. She had been so busy with her move that she hadn’t given much thought to any of her neighbors. She already knew Chet and Karen Bartlett who lived in the first house nearest the road and had named their lane after themselves. Their son had been in her English class—she taught high school in Sweetsilver. It was a town where everyone knew everyone else, but few people knew Caleb Ransom.

Bartlett Lane dead-ended at his place. Anyone who went that far was only going to his ranch. In the few days she’d been in her house, no one had passed on their way to see Caleb. No one seemed to interact with him except maybe Don Parkey, the local vet who took care of everyone’s animals—unless Caleb doctored his own animals as she knew many ranchers did.