Western Hearts: A sweet, cowboy romance (Cowboys of Aspen Valley Book 1) Read online

  Western Hearts

  A Sweet Country Romance

  Carolyne Aarsen

  Reader Group

  If you want to find out more about me and stay abreast of all my new releases you can sign up for my newsletter by clicking either on the book or on the words. When you do, you’ll be receiving a free book from me.

  SIGN UP FOR MY READER GROUP

  Chapter One

  Ten more miles, Kip Cosgrove reminded himself as a screech from the backseat of his pickup pierced his brain. He clenched the steering wheel of his pickup as the screech was followed by a roar.

  “Justin, what are you and Tristan doing back there?” Kip turned the rearview mirror so he could catch a glimpse of his five-year-old nephews, who were supposed to be buckled up in the back seat.

  “I’m a bronno sauras,” Justin said, waving one of the plastic dinosaurs Kip had bought the boys in Calgary. The dinosaurs were a bribe, clean and simple. And while they kept the boys busy, they did not keep them quiet. “Tristan is a T.Rex and I’m fighting him.”

  “Can you guys be a quiet T.Rex and bronno sauras?” He gave them a quick smile, wishing the headache that had started even before he went to Calgary would go away.

  He was still dealing with the mess left behind from his brother’s death six months ago. In spite of Kip’s constant nagging at Scott, his brother hadn’t filed a legal will stating what was to be done with his sons in case something happened to him.

  Scott had agreed but had done nothing about it.

  Then, one afternoon, Scott climbed on a green-broke horse Kip had been training. The horse went berserk, went backwards and Scott was pinned underneath.

  Kip had texted Scott that he would be coming to help, but the date Kip was on went longer than he figured.

  By the time he came back, Scott was injured beyond hope. His last words to Kip were to take care of his boys.

  Now Kip was working his way through the last of the legal morass left behind. Thank goodness the mother of the boys wasn’t in the picture at all.

  Otherwise who knew what he would have to deal with?

  He slowed down to make the turn off the main highway onto the much quieter secondary road leading to the Aspen Valley.

  Nine more miles, he reminded himself, turning up the radio a notch, hoping to drown out the noise coming from the back seat.

  He felt the tension pinching his neck slowly with every turn of his truck wheels. The road made a long, slow bend, and as it straightened, he sighed. The land eased away from the road, green fields giving way to rolling hills and behind them, peaks of granite dusted with snow.

  The Rocky Mountains of Southern Alberta.

  He felt as if he’d been gone a week instead of a day.

  Going to Calgary was a necessary evil he put up with for the sake of his beloved nephews. But thankfully that was all done now. Now he could focus on caring for the boys and his ranch.

  He slowed, then pulled into town, heading to the post office.

  “Can we get ice cream?” Justin asked.

  “No. I just need to pick up the mail.”

  “Again?”

  “It comes every day,” Kip said with a grin.

  He pulled up in front of the post office.

  “C’mon, boys,” he said.

  “Can we please stay in the truck?” Justin pleaded.

  Kip was about to say no, but he was just going in and out. It wouldn’t matter if the boys stayed behind.

  Besides, this was Aspen Valley, not Calgary. Everyone knew everyone else here.

  “Don’t touch anything, okay?” he warned, then got out and locked the truck, just for good measure.

  He stepped inside the post office and as he waited, looked over the large bulletin board hanging on one wall. The usual notices were tacked up.

  Puppies for sale, kittens to give away, a house for rent.

  Then he frowned as he recognized his sister’s handwriting on a large piece of paper tacked up in a prominent place on the bulletin board.

  The note said, “Housekeeper wanted.” And below that was the phone number of the ranch.

  And Isabelle’s cell phone number.

  What in the world was this about?

  Kip Cosgrove ripped the notice down and glared at it. What was Isabelle doing?

  Why didn’t she run it past him before she did this?

  Kip folded the paper and shoved it in his back pocket, hoping not too many people had read it.

  He spun around, almost bumping into Elyse Whittaker. She was smiling at him but he suspected she saw what he had just done with the notice.

  “Hey, Kip, how’s your mom?” she asked. “Debbie and I were just chatting about her the other day. She came over to help me with the quilt I’m making for Fenna, Courtney’s girl.”

  Kip gave her a vague nod, not sure why Elyse figured she had to impart all this information. He was sure that Debbie Suboda and Elyse were probably chatting about many other things.

  “Do you need a housekeeper because of your mother?”

  Kip groaned inwardly. If Elyse had read the notice, he was sure she had passed the information on to Debbie Suboda, who probably passed it on to whoever else the older woman hung out with.

  “No. We don’t need a housekeeper.”

  “But I heard your mother was in a lot of pain. Must be difficult for you, what with those young boys and all.”

  And right now, those young boys were waiting for him in the truck. He had to get going.

  “Isabelle and I are managing.”

  Elyse gave him a gentle frown and he guessed she was wondering, if they were managing, why the note? He wasn’t about to enlighten her.

  “Good to know, but you make sure to let me know if you need help.”

  “Thanks. I’ll do that.” Kip gave her a vague smile, taking another step toward the door. He didn’t have time for Aspen Valley chitchat. Not with two rambunctious five-year-old boys waiting for him in his truck parked outside the door and a sister to bawl out. “I’ll tell her you said hello.”

  He tipped his cowboy hat, then jogged over to his truck. He had to get home before anyone responded to the advertisement.

  He got in the truck, slamming the door.

  “What’s the matter, Uncle Kip?”

  “Are you mad?”

  Obviously a little too hard.

  “No. Just in a hurry.”

  Justin and Tristan leaned over the front seat of the truck, their faces showing the remnants of the Popsicles he’d given them as a bribe to be quiet on the long trip back from Calgary.

  “Buckle up again, you guys,” he added. He started up the truck, too many things running through his head. Besides looking after his mom and his rebellious younger sister, he had a tractor to fix, hay to haul, horses’ hooves to trim, and cows to move. And that was today’s to-do list.

  He managed to ignore the boys tussling in the backseat as he headed down the road, lists and things crowding into his head. Maybe his sister wasn’t so wrong in thinking they needed a housekeeper. Even just someone to watch the boys.

  No, he reminded himself. Isabelle could do that.

  He hunched his shoulders, planning his “you’re sixteen years old and you can help out over the summer” lecture that he’d already had with his sister once before. Now he had to do it again.

  The road made a long, slow bend, and as it straightened, he sighed. The land eased away from the road, green fields giving way to rolling hills. Peaks of granite dusted with snow thrust up behind them, starkly beautiful against the warm blue
of the endless sky.

  The Rocky Mountains of Southern Alberta. His beloved home.

  Kip slowed, as he always did, letting the beauty seep into his soul. But only for a couple of seconds, as a scream from the back pushed his foot a little farther down on the accelerator.

  “Justin, I told you to buckle up.” Kip shot his nephew another warning glance as he turned onto the ranch’s driveway.

  “We’re almost home.”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “And someone is here,” Justin yelled, falling over the front seat, almost kicking Kip in the face with his cowboy boots, spreading dirt all over the front seat.

  Kip frowned as he pulled to a stop beside an unfamiliar small car. It didn’t belong to his other sister, Doreen, that much he knew. Doreen and her husband, Alex, had gone with a full-size van for their brood of eight.

  Probably one of his mother’s many friends had come to visit. Then his teeth clenched when he noticed that the farm truck was missing, which meant Isabelle was gone. Which also meant she hadn’t cleaned the house like he’d told her to.

  The boys tumbled out of the truck, and Kip headed up the stairs to intercept them before they burst in on his mother’s visit. No sense giving the women of Aspen Valley one more thing to gossip about. Kip and those poor, sad little fatherless boys, so out of control. So sad.

  And now his mother just getting over surgery.

  Just as he caught their hands, the door of the house opened.

  An unfamiliar woman stood framed by the doorway, the late afternoon sun burnishing her smooth hair, pulled tightly back from a perfectly heart-shaped face. Her porcelain skin, high cheekbones, narrow nose, and soft lips gave her an ethereal look at odds with the crisp blue blazer, white shirt, and blue dress pants.

  What was this beautiful woman doing in his house?

  “Excuse me?” he asked, his words clipped. “Can I help you?”

  His heart jumped up a notch. How had she got in and what was she doing here?

  She held up her hands as if to appease him, obviously catching the wariness in his expression. “I’m sorry. I know how this looks, but your sister, Isabelle, invited me in. She said you were looking for a housekeeper?” The husky note in her voice created a curious sense of intimacy.

  Kip groaned inwardly. He’d taken down the notice too late. “And you are?”

  “My name is Nicole.”

  “Kip Cosgrove.” He held out his hand. Her handshake was firm, which gave him a bit more confidence.

  “I’m sorry about coming straight into the house,” she said, “but like I said, your sister invited me in, and though I know I’m not hired, I talked to your mother. She figured I should just pitch in. So I did.”

  She looked away from him to the boys. Her gentle smile for them softened the angles of her face and turned her from attractive to stunning.

  He pushed down his reaction. He had to keep his focus.

  Right now his first priority was his mother.

  He walked past her, directly to her bedroom, noting with surprise that the dishes piled up on the counter of the kitchen were gone. The rest of the house was tidy, and he heard the washing machine in the porch going.

  He got to his mother’s room, carefully pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  She was sleeping and Kip bit his lip, looking at her pale face. He knew she was struggling with pain and knew he couldn’t do much to help her.

  But as he stood there, wondering what to do, her eyes slid open and she smiled.

  “Hey, Kip. Did you meet the new housekeeper?”

  She wasn’t the new housekeeper yet, Kip wanted to say.

  “She’s wonderful. I really like her,” his mother continued. “I’m glad you hired her. That will make things so much easier.”

  Kip felt stuck and he walked over to his mother’s bed, looking down at her, concern vying with the relief he felt himself at how the house looked.

  But what was he to do about this woman his mother thought he had hired?

  “She helped me go to the bathroom and she was so gentle and considerate. Much better than Isabelle. It’s a lot to put on your sister’s shoulders. Taking care of me and the house. She’s a real answer to prayer.”

  Kip wasn’t sure what to say to that. He still wasn’t sure about Miss Nicole, whoever she was, but seeing his mother so happy and relieved had to count for something.

  “I’m glad, Mom. I have to go talk to Nicole some more and get the boys sorted. I’ll be back.”

  He brushed a kiss over her forehead and she drifted back off to sleep.

  Then he hurried back to make sure the boys weren’t getting into trouble.

  Nicole was in the kitchen, pouring the boys a glass of juice.

  She looked apologetic as he came in.

  “I’m sorry, but they were thirsty.”

  “Sure. Of course.” He waved off her objections.

  The boys were grinning up at her, obviously quite happy to be served.

  “So how long have you been here?” Kip asked.

  Or, in other words, how long had Isabelle been gone?

  “A couple of hours. I managed to get the laundry done and I cleaned the house. I know it seemed presumptuous, but Isabelle said it needed to be done, and your mother asked if I could.”

  “I see that,” Kip said.

  Despite his overall opposition to Isabelle’s hare-brained scheme that she had cooked up without him, Kip felt a loosening of tension in his shoulders at what Nicole had done. He and Isabelle had had a big argument about the laundry and housework before he went to Calgary, and he wasn’t sure it would be finished.

  Which would necessitate another argument.

  Now it was done. By some stranger his mother saw as an answer to prayer, but still.

  He’d had too many things going on lately. His responsibility for the boys, his mother, Isabelle. The ranch seemed to be a distant fourth in his priorities, which made him even more tense.

  Maybe the idea of hiring a housekeeper wasn’t so far-fetched, even though he was still trying to wrap his head around the notion of this stranger in his house.

  “You realize my mother has had surgery?” he asked, still not sure he wanted a stranger in the house but also fully aware of his sister’s shortcomings in the housekeeping department.

  “So she told me. I understand she might need some help with her exercises which I would gladly do.” Her smile seemed to underline her lack of objection. “Isabelle gave me some of the particulars.”

  “And how do I know who you are?” He couldn’t imagine that someone dressed like her would need a housekeeping job.

  “I can get you my references if you wish.”

  Kip blinked, still trying to absorb all this. Truth was, he was kind of stuck, despite his brave words.

  “Will you be able to come only certain hours, or do you have other obligations?” He still had his reservations, but since she had come all the way here and had done a bunch of work already, he should ask a few questions.

  “I’m not married, if that’s what you’re asking,” Nicole said, brushing a wisp of hair back from her face with one graceful motion.

  The gold hoops in her ears glinted in the light in the kitchen, as did the rings on her manicured hands.

  She didn’t look like she’d done much housekeeping. His first impression would have pegged her as a fashion model or businesswoman.

  But then he’d been wrong about people before. Case in point: his one-time girlfriend, Nancy. The one who took off as soon as she found out he had been named the guardian of his nephews.

  Nicole looked back at the boys, who hadn’t said a peep since she had appeared in the doorway.

  “The boys already told me who they were, Justin and Tristan.”

  The boys, while boisterous and outgoing around family, were invariably shy around strangers, especially since their father, Scott’s death. But they were smiling up at her as if they saw her as an answer to prayer at last.

&
nbsp; “It was really nice to meet them at…I mean, meet you.” Nicole smiled at the boys, bringing the juice back to the fridge. As she passed, he caught the scent of lilacs, saw the curve of her cheek.

  When she came back, she brushed Tristan’s hair and touched Justin’s arm.

  Something about the gesture made him feel a bit better about hiring her. He could see it wasn’t forced but natural.

  “How old are you?” she asked the twins.

  “My nephews are five. They’ll be going to school this fall.” Kip put in, coming to stand behind them, resting his hands on their shoulders. “Though I hate the thought of putting the little guys on the school bus.”

  And why was he telling her that?

  “I told Uncle Kip we have to stay home. To help him with the chores,” Tristan said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “I don’t know much about farm chores,” Nicole said, glancing from one boy to the other. “What kinds of things do you have to do?”

  “We have to feed the dog,” Tristan offered quietly. “She has puppies.”

  “You have puppies?” Nicole’s eyes grew wide. “They must be so cute.”

  “And we have to help with the baby calves,” Justin added, as if unwilling to be outdone by his brother. “But we’re not allowed to ride the horses anymore.” He shot a hopeful glance Kip’s way but he ignored it. The boys had been campaigning all summer to ride again, but there was no way he was putting anyone he loved on a horse. Not since Scott’s accident.

  They were too young and too precious.

  “Now all I have to do is figure out which one of you is Tristan and which is Justin.” Nicole looked from one to the other, and the tenderness in her smile eased away Kip’s second thoughts.

  “He’s Tristan,” Justin said, pointing to his brother. “And I’m Justin. We’re twins.”

  “I see that. So how should I tell you apart?” Nicole asked.

  “Justin has a little brown mark on his back. In the shape of a horseshoe,” Tristan offered.

  “Do you think it was because you were born on a ranch?”

  “Wasn’t borned on the ranch. I was borned in the hospital in Halifax.” He sighed. “My daddy is dead, you know.”