The Rugged Cowboy: A Sweet Fake Relationship Romance (Cupid Ridge Cowboys Book 4), page 1
THE RUGGED COWBOY
MACIE ST. JAMES
Cupid Ridge Cowboys, Book 4
Version 1.0601
Copyright © 2023 Stephanie Faris
All rights reserved.
No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.
Cover Design by Sarah Kil | Sarah Kil Creative Studio | sarahkilcreativestudio.com
Copyediting by Brandi Zelenka | My Notes in the Margin Book Services | mynotesinthemargins.com
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
1
This wasn’t the first time Tucker Trotter had been back to Cupid Ridge. He rushed into town and back out again every Christmas, staying only as long as he had to.
There was a reason for that. And he was reminded of that reason as he drove past not one but two ranches. Each ranch was owned by a family full of cowboys who thought they were better than him.
Maybe they were. His family never had much money, but it was a small town, and nobody was super wealthy.
That had all changed for him in the past decade, though. Tucker smiled to himself as he blasted past both ranches and continued on the long, two-lane highway that led downtown. He’d spent the past decade on the rodeo circuit, working his way up from a newbie to a two-time saddle bronc-riding national champion.
He’d loved every minute of it, but over the past couple of years, his body had started to protest the constant jerking around. The aches and pains weren’t going anywhere. And that’s why he was opening his own business training other rodeo riders.
But first, he had business to attend to, and that business was checking on the man who had been more of a father to him than his own father ever was. The man who’d taught him everything he knew about putting in a hard day’s work. The man who’d hired and mentored him at this very diner as a teen. Micky Todd.
The parking lot next to the Cupid Ridge Diner was almost empty, but he spotted his sister’s beat-up white sedan two spaces away from the empty spot where his former boss used to park.
That former boss was now in the ICU, recovering from a quintuple bypass. And Tucker was meeting his sister to find out what he could do to help.
The unmistakable twang of a country music crooner made its way out to Tucker, thanks to a customer who pushed the door open just as he was approaching. He didn’t recognize the guy, making him wonder just how many new people had moved to town since he left a few months after high school graduation. He’d been away so long, maybe it was someone he knew but didn’t recognize. If so, the guy didn’t recognize him, either.
Once he was through the door, Tucker stopped and looked around. He scanned the entire restaurant, including the window where the cook, Alex, was almost always visible. Alex was the guy his former boss hired just before Tucker left town, so they’d only had a few days of working together. Alex wasn’t back there. Nobody was.
But there was a voice. A distinctively female voice. That wasn’t his sister’s singing. In fact, he didn’t know anyone who could sing like that. She sang along with the music as though the original singer had asked her to duet with him.
He might have stood there all day, listening to it. But he was a little skeeved out that someone could come through the door and find him standing there.
He wasn’t ready to see locals yet. Especially if one of those locals might be a Knott or Ludington cowboy.
There was good news, though. Unless something had changed, Tucker knew exactly where the music controls were. Just behind the counter.
After one last glance over his shoulder to verify nobody was going to blast through the front door, Tucker moved. He headed straight for the counter, slipping behind it for the first time in more than a decade. Without hesitating, he walked to the area where the owners stored aprons and uniforms.
Opening the cabinet door and peeking inside, Tucker smiled. Nope. Nothing had changed.
He pressed the power button, and the music abruptly stopped, but the voice did not. Whoever she was, she continued for at least another six notes before going silent mid-word. She was in the back room, where the dishwashing station, walk-in cooler, employee lockers, and extra supplies were stored.
Could he go back there? It was “employees only,” but he’d once worked here. That counted, right?
One of the owners was in the hospital. Nobody would stop him.
He started walking until he could see the swing door that separated the back room from the rest of the restaurant. There, he paused to watch it for a long moment. Nobody emerged.
So, he started walking again. He had his hand out, ready to push the door, when suddenly it blasted out toward him, shoving his hand back and knocking him right in the forehead.
Bam.
The sound seemed to bounce around the restaurant, almost as obnoxious as the music had been. It took Tucker a few seconds to realize what had happened, especially since the door flipped right back into place, wobbling a little, then stilling. But suddenly, it slowly pushed open.
He wasn’t going to be slammed into again. He took several broad steps back, rubbing his forehead as he watched a small round face with large blue eyes peek around the door.
This wasn’t his sister. It wasn’t Lauryn Todd, either. Lauryn was the daughter of the couple who owned this place. There was something vaguely familiar about those eyes and high cheekbones. He couldn’t quite place her, though.
“Did I hit you?” she asked.
That must be the same voice he’d heard singing seconds earlier. It was beautiful, just as she was. If he didn’t speak, she might think he had a concussion or something. Could someone get a concussion that quickly?
But no, he didn’t have a concussion. He was staring at her because he couldn’t remember a time in his life when he’d seen a sight quite this beautiful.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got a tough skull.”
A tough skull? Had he actually said those words aloud? His mom had always called him hard-headed. Maybe that was what he was trying to say.
“I’m so sorry.” She slipped around the door, and he saw the rest of her.
Just as he’d imagined, she was petite. Not just shorter than him, but smaller all around. If he hadn’t gotten a look at her face, he might have thought she was younger than she was, but that was definitely the face of a woman.
“Is Zoey around here?” he managed to force out.
Her mouth formed an “o” as she looked around. “You’re her brother.”
So, his sister had talked about him in front of this blonde beauty. He had to hold in a smile.
“I’m Cassady Knott.” She thrust out her right hand.
Tucker looked down at it. A handshake? That was awfully businesslike. Wait. Had she said her name was…?
“Cassady Knott?” he asked.
She nodded as his gaze lifted to her face. Knott. That meant she was related to Phoenix Knott. He wanted to hope she was a cousin or maybe the last name similarity was a coincidence, but no. He suddenly realized why those eyes seemed so familiar.
There were twins in the Knott family. Cassady and Chase. This was the little girl he’d seen in this very diner when he’d worked here, dining with her family.
Tucker took a deep breath and shrugged. She obviously already knew who he was. May as well face it head-on.
Noting she’d given up on the handshake, he thrust his own hand out in invitation. “Tucker Trotter.”
After studying him for a long moment, she lifted her hand again, allowing him to wrap his much bigger hand around it. Her skin was soft and smooth against his work-roughened palm. She probably thought she was shaking hands with an ogre.
Rodeo work was not easy on the hands…or any other part of the body, to be honest. But he couldn’t guarantee she knew a thing about him besides her big brother couldn’t stand him.
Cassady let go of his hand and took a step back. “I didn’t mention you were back in town to anyone else.”
Was she trying to get away from him? He didn’t want to believe that, but if it was the case, he ’d do whatever it took to show her his reputation around here was fiction, not fact.
“Thanks for that,” he said. “I usually sneak in and out of town before anyone knows. I don’t think it’ll be that easy this time.”
Cassady pursed her lips thoughtfully, twisting her mouth a little as she seemed to think through his words.
“Zoey asked us to keep it a secret, but it’ll eventually get out if you stick around here long enough.” She shrugged. “The hazards of being in a small town, I guess.
He nodded, and a silence fell between them as their eyes locked in a stare. He needed to look away before things got weird, but she wasn’t looking away, and he couldn’t seem to will his eyes to move.
“I saw her car in the parking lot,” he blurted.
It was the first thing that came to mind. He was here to meet Zoey. He didn’t want Cassady to think he just showed up to hang out in the diner and bother her.
Cassady looked out the front windows. “Right.”
Oh. Of course, she knew he was meeting his sister. They’d discussed him. He needed to get his head together before this woman thought she’d given him a concussion with the door.
But before he could say anything, Cassady spoke again. “She borrowed my truck to go get Isabella from school. You should have gotten a text.”
So many things to discuss in that statement. First, did she say she drove a truck? But that was the least of his questions right now. He made a mental list of the others and attacked them in the order in which she’d said them.
“Why didn’t she take her own car?” he asked.
“It won’t start. We’re hoping you have jumper cables. If not, Elijah does.”
Okay, that brought up one more question. He tacked it onto the end of his mental list.
“Who’s Isabella?” he asked.
“Elijah’s daughter.” She crossed her arms over her chest as though daring him to probe further.
He skipped the third item on the list, which was checking for Zoey’s text message, and jumped right to the fourth. “And who’s Elijah?”
“Elijah Knott,” she said.
With that, she resumed studying him. Yeah, he got it. He was confusing her. Probably because he was mega-confused himself.
His sister was picking up Elijah Knott’s daughter. Those words told him all he needed to hear to piece things together. His sister’s excited tone when she’d told him she had a lot of stuff to tell him about. Her pleas for him to give Cupid Ridge another chance because “people change.” The way Cassady stared at him as though gauging just how much he knew…
“My sister’s dating Elijah Knott,” he said.
Please don’t tell him they were already married or something. He’d been out of town a while, but Christmas was only five months ago. They definitely couldn’t have a child in that time, but they could’ve run off and gotten married.
“She’s dating my brother,” Cassady said, followed by a wince. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that. But everyone knows. If you stick around Cupid Ridge more than a few minutes, you’ll hear about it.”
“Great,” he said, trying to remember which rancher Elijah Knott was.
They all tended to blur together when you weren’t friendly with the family. He’d always avoided every single one of them, even though his beef was specifically with Phoenix, as well as Sawyer Ludington, the oldest son on the neighboring ranch. They both had punk attitudes that Tucker constantly wanted to put in check.
“I guess I’ll just wait here then,” he said. “Are you serving lunch yet?”
She paled. Actually turned a lighter shade. Oops. That’d probably been the wrong thing to say.
“Alex isn’t here,” she said.
Alex. He tried not to grumble at the mention of the name. Alex hadn’t been all that interested in cooking things the way their boss had trained them. It had irked Tucker to no end at the time.
“When I heard the music shut off, I came out,” Cassady continued. “I was hoping it was him, returning.”
Tucker shook his head. “I’m not him.”
That went without saying. Stating the obvious was something he tended to do when he was nervous.
Was he nervous? Yes, this woman had charged him up a little. His heart was pounding. He might even be on the verge of breaking a sweat. He handled thousand-pound steers in the ring without sweating, and he couldn’t take on a blue-eyed blonde?
“So, that means nobody can cook,” he said.
“He’ll be back any second.” Cassady bit her lip and craned to look around him. “He just ran down the street to borrow some sugar.”
Borrow some sugar? Had he heard that correctly? Did restaurants actually do that? Not when the Todds were running the place. They always stayed on top of ordering.
But Micky Todd was in the hospital. There was nobody here to place those orders.
“I can cook.” Tucker gestured toward the kitchen. “I assume you still serve the steak sandwich.”
Eyes wide, she continued to stare at him. That was when he finally noticed there wasn’t a single sign she worked there. She wore an untucked navy blouse and denim capris with matching navy sandals. No uniform, no name tag…nothing normally seen on a Cupid Ridge Diner employee.
But the real tell was her hair. The Todds were strict about hair being tied back. From what he could see, Cassady’s straight blonde locks fell just below her shoulder blades. No way would she be allowed to cook or serve customers like that.
“Mostly, I’m just here to tell anyone who comes in to wait.” She shrugged. “I’m trying to help, but things are a little wonky right now.”
Wonky. Interesting word choice.
Smiling, he glanced toward the door. “I could wait. But I’d love to get in there and take a crack at making it myself.”
He felt guilty for even asking. Cassady probably wasn’t in a position to give him that kind of permission. But he’d take the full blame himself.
“I can make you something, too,” he said. “I’m a pretty good cook. I mostly bussed tables as an employee here, but I’d worked my way up to line cook before I left town.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly, studying him. Yeah, he could only imagine the things people had said about him after he’d packed up his pickup and hit the road.
There was a good reason for his sudden exit, though. One of his high school buddies landed a job that had him on the road all the time. He’d offered his place to Tucker in exchange for him keeping an eye on his golden retriever while he was away.
While he was there, Tucker took a job on a local construction crew, and eventually, he landed a job with the rodeo. As it turned out, he had a knack for not only caring for the animals but hanging onto a very active animal for dear life. Was that a talent? He wasn’t sure. Whatever the case, it had been a good run, and he’d been able to forget what it was like to live in Cupid Ridge until this afternoon.
“Go for it,” Cassady said. “I’d really love a patty melt if you know how to make one of those.”
“Do I?” He smiled. “Just have a seat, and I’ll bring it to you when it’s done.”
Tucker headed into the kitchen, surprised at how much the idea of cooking for Cassady Knott appealed to him. It had been a long time since he’d been able to cook for a woman. Maybe a little too long.
But this woman was something special. Even though he’d be in town a short time, his new goal was to make a good impression on her. By the time he left Cupid Ridge, she wouldn’t be able to hear the name Tucker Trotter without smiling.
2
Nothing about today was ordinary. Not a single thing.
First, Cassady was babysitting an actual diner. Which was weird, but if it helped her brother’s girlfriend, Zoey, she’d do it.
Second, Zoey was supposed to be meeting her brother to fill him in on Micky Todd’s heart attack. Micky ran this very diner, and as Zoey had explained, he’d been kind of a father figure to Tucker, who’d worked here for a while in high school. She’d always heard he ran off to play in a country band or tour with the rodeo or something. She wasn’t clear on that.
