My kind of cowboy, p.1
My Kind of Cowboy, page 1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 Ruth Ryan Langan
Cover photography by Rob Lang. Cover design by Elizabeth Turner Stokes.
Cover copyright © 2019 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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ISBNs: 978-1-5387-1684-7 (mass market), 978-1-5387-1683-0 (ebook)
E3-20200323-DA-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
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
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
Billy’s Strawberry Shortcake
Discover More
About the Author
Also by R. C. Ryan
Raves for R. C. Ryan’s Novels
Cowboy Rebel by Carolyn Brown
Dedication
Preface
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
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
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Prologue
The Old Butcher Ranch—Wyoming
Twenty years previous
You’ll make a fine life for yourself here, Bo.” Egan Merrick clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder while looking around at the old-fashioned furnishings left behind by the previous owner. “Leigh and the boys seem happy here.”
Bo Merrick glanced across the room at his beautiful wife laughing with his mother, Meg, and his sister, Liz. It warmed his heart to see their close bond. Family mattered to Bo. He and Liz had grown up in their grandfather’s home. It was where his father had brought his bride and where Bo had brought his. Even after the birth of their three sons, they’d continued living on the family ranch. And now, finally, they were enjoying their first taste of their own place.
“We’re loving it, Pops. When old Wayne Butcher decided to pull up stakes and move in with his daughter in Montana, I figured it was fate. With our range lands adjoining, we’re close enough to share ranch chores.”
Egan pointed to where Bo’s three sons, Brand, Casey, and Jonah, were playing with a set of ancient wooden trucks left behind by the previous owner. “I can see it’s already starting to feel like home to all of you.”
“Yes, sir.” Bo nodded.
Bo and Leigh had hosted a family supper, followed by endless rounds of stories about the early days when Hammond Merrick, patriarch of the family, had become something of a legend in these parts. These were stories none of them ever tired of hearing. The three little boys considered their great-grandfather a superhero. Despite his cantankerous ways, it was plain to see the love between all of them. They were easy in one another’s company.
The older man stifled a yawn, and Meg stepped closer. “Ready to go, Hammond?” Meg was the only family member who called him by his given name. To everyone else he was Ham. No sweet, cuddly nicknames for him.
Ham nodded. “Ranch chores start early.” He hugged his grandson’s wife. “A grand supper, as always, Leigh. I thank you.”
The three little boys gathered around their great-grandfather to share his famous bear hugs before he trailed behind Egan, Meg, and Liz as they made their way to their truck for the drive back to the family ranch.
As they drove away, Bo drew his wife close. “Life doesn’t get much better, babe.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Leigh brushed a quick kiss over his mouth before calling to her boys, “Time for bed. Let’s head upstairs and I’ll hear your prayers.”
Six-year-old Brand was asleep, tucked up beside his two younger brothers. Their room was in the attic of the ancient ranch house they now called home.
Something had disturbed Brand’s sleep, and he now lay listening to the creaking of rotted timbers above his head. His father had said that this house may be more than a hundred years old, but it was sturdy enough to give them shelter until he could finish the new house he was building on the other side of the rickety barn. His pa said they were lucky to be able to buy this ranch, located right next door to his family ranch. By merging the two, the Merrick family would own one of the biggest spreads in Wyoming.
Just thinking about his ma and pa asleep in the big bedroom downstairs had Brand smiling as he began to slip back into sleep.
The creaking of the timbers grew louder, and Brand sat up, wondering at the other sound. The wind? If so, it was howling loud enough to blow the house down.
Through the closed curtains, he saw a strange orange glow, and he rubbed his eyes before slipping out of bed and crossing to the window.
Fire!
Flames were licking along the outer wall, and bits of burning wood and shingles were flying through the air, landing like gunshots above his head. He could hear the crackling sound that told him the roof was already on fire.
“Casey. Jonah.” Brand was shaking his brothers roughly, pulling aside the covers and forcing them both to a sitting position. Though they weren’t yet awake, he started dragging them toward the door. When little Jonah whined and dropped to the floor, Brand picked him up. Staggering beneath the load, he half carried, half dragged his two little brothers down the stairs until they reached the closed front door.
Leaving them there, he raced to his parents’ room, shouting for them to wake up.
“Ma! Pa!” He started tugging on his father’s arm until Bo sat up in a daze.
After a punishing dawn-to-dark workday, it was no wonder Bo had to struggle to focus. There were never enough hours in the day. Sleep was a luxury he often did without. “What’s wrong? Are you crazy, son?”
“Fire, Pa. It’s up on the roof.”
Bo was out of bed and stumbling toward the door, all the while shouting to his wife, “Leigh, wake up. There’s a fire.”
She sat up, struggling to get her bearings. Suddenly she bolted out of bed. “The boys.”
“They’re okay, Ma.” Relieved that his parents were awake and ready to take charge, Brand raced out of their bedroom and hurried to where he’d left his little brothers.
Jonah had fallen asleep.
Casey was sitting beside his little brother, looking completely bewildered by the smoke swirling
“Come on.” Brand threw open the big front door and was buffeted by a rush of wind.
He grabbed Jonah by one hand and Casey by the other, dragging them outside. Despite their protests, he continued dragging them clear across the yard before shoving them into their pa’s truck for safekeeping.
Unsure whether or not to leave his little brothers alone, he stood shivering outside the vehicle, watching for his parents.
To a boy of six, the next few minutes seemed like an hour. Finally, after shouting to Casey to stay inside the truck with Jonah, he ran toward the house, shouting, “Pa! Ma! Where are you?”
At first as he stepped inside, all he could hear was the roar of the fire, sounding like a train bearing down on him. Cowering in the doorway, he cupped his hands to his mouth and continued shouting.
A flash of lights had him turning as a truck came barreling across a flat stretch of meadow and came to a screeching halt alongside his father’s truck.
The doors opened and Brand’s grandparents came rushing toward him, followed by his great-grandfather and his aunt Liz.
Gram Meg wrapped her arms around Brand, gathering him close. “Your brothers?”
“In Pa’s truck.”
She gave a cry to Liz and the two turned away, racing toward the terrified little boys who could be seen peering through the windows of the truck.
Hammond caught Brand by the shoulders. “Your folks?”
“Inside. I woke them. Then I brought Casey and Jonah out here.”
Egan started inside, followed by Hammond. The flames were now everywhere, and thick smoke billowed, leaving the entire house in darkness.
Hammond turned around, pointing a finger-of-God order at Brand. “Go to the truck, boy.”
“But Ma and Pa—”
Stern old Hammond hollered, “You heard me, boy. Get out of here. Now.”
The old man disappeared inside the inferno, and though the need to find his parents was all consuming, it never occurred to Brand to disobey his elders.
He hurried toward his grandmother and aunt, who were each holding one of his brothers, murmuring words meant to soothe.
Barefoot and shivering, Brand focused all his attention on the front door.
A short time later he saw three figures emerge.
Though Gram Meg tried to hold him back, he wrenched free and raced toward the house to find his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather lying on the ground, coughing and retching.
“Pa.” Brand knelt beside his father. “Where’s Ma?”
Bo’s head came up. “She’s not out here with you?”
“No, Pa.”
“She told me she was heading up to fetch you boys.”
“I said they were okay. I had Casey and Jonah with me.”
“My God. She must not have heard you and went upstairs…” Before Bo could race back into the house, there was a great rush of flames and the roof collapsed inward, sending streams of flaming timbers and glowing embers raining down on everyone.
Hammond gave his great-grandson a shove. “Run, boy. Get in the truck.”
Looking over his shoulder, Brand saw his grandfather and great-grandfather dragging Bo toward the shelter of the truck. Twice Bo broke free and darted back toward the fire, and twice he was caught and held until the three men were forced to leap back and watch as the walls caved inward and the house dissolved into a pile of fiery rubble.
“Leigh!” Bo’s hoarse voice echoed and re-echoed in the night sky as he dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands, while the others stood by helplessly.
The sound of his father’s sobs had young Brand frozen in place. It was, he knew, a sound that would remain in his memory forever.
The endless days that followed were spent at the ranch, where the family did their best to ease Bo and his sons through the pain of loss.
Though everyone, including the volunteer fire department inspector, said the fire had been fueled by sparks from the wood-burning fireplace, the Merrick family wasn’t fully convinced. When Bo met Leigh Johnson, the great love of his life, she’d been engaged to Des Dempsey, whose father owned the bank in Devil’s Door. When she broke her engagement to Des to marry Bo, the entire Dempsey family turned their backs on the Merrick family, refusing them any of the financing necessary to a rancher’s existence. Since their bank was now closed to the Merricks, Bo had been forced to go far beyond the town to borrow the money he’d needed to buy the old Butcher ranch.
Bo, Egan, and Hammond were seated at the kitchen table, talking in low tones.
Bo’s voice was raw with fury. “I haven’t a doubt who did this. This was Des Dempsey’s final revenge.”
“Now you don’t know—” Hammond’s words broke off.
Bo turned to see what caused the interruption and caught sight of young Brand standing hesitantly in the doorway. He shoved away from the table and crossed to the boy. “You should be in bed, son.”
“I can’t sleep, Pa. I want to stay down here with you.”
Bo knelt and gathered his son close. “I understand, but you need your rest.” He picked up Brand and turned toward the stairs. “Come on. I’ll sit with you until you fall asleep.”
When he was tucked in his bed, Brand looked up at his father. “Why did Mr. Dempsey cause the fire?”
“I don’t know. I have my suspicions but…”
Brand’s voice trembled. “Is Ma never coming back to us?”
“No, son.” Bo’s voice was tight with grief.
“Will we ever go home again?”
Bo sighed. “This will be our home now.”
“But what about having our own place?”
“I’ll need my mother and your aunt Liz to help with you and your brothers.”
“I can help you. We’ll all help.”
“I know you will. You’re a good boy, Brand. We’ll merge the two pieces of land, and we’ll stay on here. It’ll be fine. You’ll see.” Bo pressed a kiss to his son’s cheek. “We’ll still be a family, only bigger. Sleep now. Good night, Brand.”
“’Night, Pa.”
After his father went downstairs, Brand lay awake, trying to sort out all that had happened. His big, strong father had always been the one to crack jokes and tease. Now he looked sad and broken.
Brand came to a decision. He would help with Casey and Jonah. He would learn all he could about being a rancher, while keeping an eye out for bad old Mr. Dempsey. And someday he would be big like his pa, and he would do whatever it took to ease his father’s sorrow.
At last he fell asleep to the rumble of masculine voices below. Despite the ache in his heart, he felt a sense of safety here in the home where his father had grown to manhood.
Chapter One
Merrick Ranch—Wyoming. Spring, present day
Hold on, Brand.” Ranch foreman Chet Doyle pulled his mount beside Brand’s and said in a whisper, “Look over there.”
A band of mustangs melted into the woods and became invisible as two horses and riders crested the hill.
“I see them.” Lifting his hat to wipe at the sweat that beaded his forehead, Brand nudged his horse forward.
Ordinarily Brand’s vision would have sharpened at the slight movement of fresh green foliage, and he would have paused to watch the herd disappear. Everyone on the Merrick ranch shared his love of the herds of wild horses that roamed these hills. They were the favorite subject of his aunt’s photographs, featured in glossy wildlife magazines. The love of mustangs had been the motivating force behind Casey’s decision to become a veterinarian, and they were featured prominently in Jonah’s first bestselling novel. But it had been a particularly long day with the cattle in the high meadow, now lush with grass, and Brand was distracted by the pain pulsing down his leg. Even the beauty of the countryside, always such a thrill in springtime, failed to lift his spirits.
Usually the sight of the Grand Tetons towering in the distance and the Merrick family ranch spread out below, spanning thousands of acres of spectacular hills and valleys, meadows and highlands, would be enough to have him grinning from ear to ear. Today, his handsome face was etched with pain.
Seeing it, Chet fell silent. The rugged foreman, best friend to Bo and Liz since childhood, had been with the Merrick family long enough to read their various moods. And he’d watched Brand fighting this lingering pain ever since that fall from his mount.
When the ranch buildings came into view, Brand’s horse, sensing food, lengthened its strides, adding to Brand’s torment.
