Caught Up in a Cowboy, page 29
Jack grimaced. “I hated BUD/S training.”
“Exactly.”
Jack didn’t know why that soothed some of the jagged edges, but it did. Not all of them certainly, but at least some. “Pioneer Spirit?”
“Uh, well, Becca’s mom is coming over for dinner.”
“Say no more. We’re out of here,” Gabe said, jumping to his feet from his seat on a porch chair, at least in part for comic effect.
“And I wanted to let you guys know, whenever you’re ready, you can move into the bunkhouse.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow at Alex. “We? As in not you.”
“I’m staying put,” Alex said in that tone that brooked no argument.
Not that Jack or Gabe would argue, and Jack supposed it wasn’t a surprise. Alex and Becca had been hot and heavy for a while, even more so since Alex had gotten some help. It made sense.
It still felt…weird.
“We’ll meet you at Pioneer Spirit later though. Becca and I.” Alex shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. “So don’t get drunk before we get there, huh? It wouldn’t kill either of you to lighten up on that score.”
Gabe gave him a mock salute, and Jack tried to smile. He and Gabe had been spending a lot of time at the bar in town lately, but…well, Alex didn’t get to boss them around anymore. Especially if he was staying in the main house, while Jack and Gabe moved out to the bunkhouse.
“I better help Becca with dinner,” Alex said absently. “See you guys later.” He disappeared inside.
“He seem weird to you?” Gabe asked, frowning at the door.
Jack shrugged. “Not particularly. You ready?”
Gabe slung his arm over Jack’s shoulders. “I am always, always ready to drink my troubles away.”
“And I will always, always drink to that.”
* * *
Rose Rogers surveyed her kingdom: a dimly lit bar sparsely populated by old ranchers and young drunks with Hank Williams Jr. rasping from the jukebox that played mainly country classics.
For three years, Pioneer Spirit had been all hers, and it had yet to get old. For a little girl who’d grown up like she had, owning something, running something, was quite the coup, no matter that it was a run-down townie bar in the middle of nowhere Montana.
She didn’t dare take any of it for granted, because it was miles better than anything that had come before.
Which was why she needed to figure something out to protect this. Her father being out of jail put too many question marks in the air. He’d always been a cruel man, but would he be a vindictive one? Would he have the opportunity?
She scowled. She wouldn’t give him the opportunity to hurt what or who she loved again. So she needed to find a way to neutralize the potential threat and not wince every time her bar door swung open.
But wince she did, every single time. This time, as every other time before, it wasn’t her father. Instead, Jack So-and-So and Gabe Such-and-Such marched in. The two men had become something like fixtures in her bar this summer, and she’d gleaned a thing or two about both from serving them and maybe, on one or two occasions, being a little charmed by them.
Hard not to be charmed, because she didn’t know men like them. Their little trio, because Alex Maguire often joined their group as well, had never once sexually harassed her or any of her waitresses, and they’d never gotten in a fight or damaged property.
Not once. They seemed to live up to the fictional idea of honorable military men, and on top of all that, they were building some charitable foundation at the Maguire ranch.
Rose kept waiting for one of them to turn out to be a turd, but they were unfailingly polite, excellent tippers, and sometimes even made her laugh or become interested in their stories—very much against her will.
Gabe was a flirt, but it wasn’t that kind of persistent attention she usually nipped in the bud. It was friendlier, somehow. Maybe because he was never handsy, never pushy. Just flirtatious comments whenever she came around. He was also a very equal-opportunity flirt. Any woman who’d ever been in her bar had been charmed by Gabe Cortez, including a few elderly ladies who’d been left blushing.
God help the woman who fell for that mess. Either mess, really. Because both Jack and Gabe clearly had a whole lot of mess underneath their polite, friendly facades. Gabe masked it with smiles and flirtation, and Jack masked it with…well, a stoicism Rose admired.
Until he got drunk. Then she’d catch little glimpses of a guy with a sense of humor. Honestly, if she hadn’t spent the past few years watching her sister’s husband prove to be an upstanding guy, she’d think they were both serial killers, but she’d finally accepted that not all men were her father.
Even if most were rotten.
Still, Rose couldn’t say she minded these two decorating her bar stools. Handsome to a T, the lot of them. Jack and Gabe were like two sides of the same Navy SEAL coin. One tall, dark, and too handsome for his own good, the other Mr. All-American fair-haired fighter for justice. With a limp.
She wasn’t sure if it was the limp or the stoicism that got to her the most, but Jack was a bit of a problem. In that, if he didn’t show up on his normal nights, she wondered why. In that she often caught herself watching him when he was in the bar.
One time, he’d gotten really drunk and told her an elaborate story about cow tipping. She’d believed it, hook, line, and sinker, and she never believed liars. But he’d laughed hysterically when he’d realized he’d fooled her.
She’d been pissed for weeks, but ever since, she’d known there was just something different about Jack whatever his last name was.
Someone like her had no business finding him intriguing. She was rotten to the core, snarky and mean at whim, and he was the kind of guy who said please and thank you and had sacrificed life and limb for his country.
Maybe that’s why she was fascinated. Besides, it was a nice little fantasy. The big, strong military man who would protect her from any harm.
Silly, foolish, and utterly untrue, but irresistible nonetheless considering, a few years ago, she wouldn’t have even been able to fantasize about such a thing.
“You want those two?” Tonya asked, nodding toward Jack and Gabe as she poured cheap whiskey for a group of ranch hands.
She wanted one of them anyway. “You take them.” Rose put two bottles of beer onto a tray and nudged it toward her waitress.
Tonya slid the whiskeys to the man waiting to take them to his friends. “I’m just going to put their tips in the tip jar, so if you’re doing that out of charity—”
“Charity doesn’t exist here,” Rose replied, flashing a menacing smile. Tonya’s husband had been hurt in a ranching accident, and they were struggling to make ends meet. She was a good bartender, would make a good manager if Rose could ever back off a little without feeling panicked. Rose would make sure Tonya took all the tips at the end of the night regardless.
Tonya grumbled, but she hefted the tray to take to Gabe and Jack. Rose watched her go. Gabe and Jack smiled politely at Tonya, and she laughed at something Gabe said. Rose couldn’t hear it from where she stood, but it was likely a marriage proposal. Gabe threw those out like candy.
Her gaze fell to Jack, and for a second, she allowed herself the happy pleasure of just staring at his face. A classic handsome, really—what might have been wholesomeness if not for the beard and the haunted blue eyes.
Blue eyes that were now staring straight at her. She flashed him a grin, and he lifted his bottle in a little salute.
Sometimes she really considering corrupting Jack the Navy SEAL—at least a little bit.
The sound of the door opening, just a faint squeak under the din of the bar, eradicated that consideration in an instant. She flinched, her gaze immediately moving from Jack to the door.
But it wasn’t her father standing there. And what would she do if it turned out to be? She rubbed the knife she carried in a little hidden holster on her belt. She kept a revolver behind the bar in case of emergencies. She could protect herself against her father.
And still fear had sprouted like a weed since hearing he’d been released. That old, shaky fear, those old, defeatist thoughts.
She took a deep breath. She’d gotten this far. Nothing would get in her way again. She’d protect everything she held dear no matter the cost, and she wouldn’t allow herself the luxury of falling for any fantasies.
Girls like her didn’t get the happy ending, but she’d make sure she was safeguarding her sisters one way or another.
She glanced back at Jack, who was still staring at her, a puzzled frown on his face.
“Not for you,” she muttered to herself, and got back to work.
Cowboy SEAL Redemption
On sale June 2018
Acknowledgments
As always, my love and thanks go out to my husband, Todd, for your steadfast love and support in my writing career and in our life together! We make the best team!
I have to thank my family as well. My sons, Tyler and Nick, for always supporting me and listening to a zillion plotting ideas. I love you both with more than my heart could ever imagine.
My parents and siblings (all of them) are my biggest cheerleaders, and I’m so grateful for the love and encouragement they all have offered. Thanks, Mom, for being my favorite beta reader and plotting sounding board. And thanks, Dad, for always dropping everything to chat and to offer me great tips and advice on running a ranch and talking me through farming and animal knowledge and that whole cattle-branding scene.
I can’t thank my editor, Deb Werksman, enough for believing in me and this project, for your amazing editing talents, and for always making me feel like a rock star. Thanks to Dawn Adams for this incredible cover that makes me fall harder in love with Rock every time I see it. I love being part of the Sourcebooks Sisterhood, and I offer buckets of thanks to the whole Sourcebooks Casablanca team for all your efforts and hard work in making this book happen.
Huge shout-out thanks to my agent, Nicole Resciniti at the Seymour Agency, for your advice, your guidance, your calm answers to my panicked questions, and your editing assistance. You are the best, and I’m so thankful you are part of my tribe.
I must humbly, and with serious fangirling, thank Jodi Thomas, one of my favorite authors, who so graciously offered to read my book and give me a cover quote. Jodi’s words and stories have inspired me and given me the strength to persevere when I’ve felt weary or disheartened. Thanks so much, Jodi. Your kind words mean the world to me.
Big thanks to my writing sisters, Beth Rhodes and Cindy Skaggs, who helped make this work possible through their constant support and lots and lots of writing sprints—whether I wanted to do them or not. Your accountability and support are invaluable!
Special thanks to Kristin Miller for your plotting help. Your friendship and encouragement mean so much to me.
Special acknowledgment goes out to the women who walk this writing journey with me every day. The ones who make me laugh, who encourage and support, who offer great advice and sometimes just listen. Thank you, Michelle Major, Lana Williams, Anne Eliot, Ginger Scott, and Selena Laurence. XO
Big thanks goes out to my street team, Jennie’s Page Turners, and for all my readers, the people who have been with me from the start—my loyal readers, my dedicated fans, the ones who have read my stories, who have laughed and cried with me, who have fallen in love with my heroes and have clamored for more! Whether you have been with me since the first book or just discovered me with this one, know that I write these stories for you, and I can’t thank you enough for reading them. Sending love, laughter, and big Colorado hugs to you all!
About the Author
Jennie Marts is the USA Today bestselling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”
She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet that loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.
Her books include the contemporary western romance Hearts of Montana series, the romantic comedy/cozy mysteries of The Page Turners series, the hunky hockey-playing men in the Bannister family in the Bannister Brothers Books, and the small-town romantic comedies in the Lovestruck series of Cotton Creek Romances.
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books or on Twitter @JennieMarts. Visit her at jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.
Thank you for reading!
At Sourcebooks we are always working on something new and exciting, and we don’t want you to miss out.
So sign up now to receive exclusive offers, bonus content, and always be the first to get the scoop on what’s new!
SIGN UP NOW!
Jennie Marts, Caught Up in a Cowboy
