Western Wishes: a sweet cowboy romance (Cowboys of Aspen Valley Book 2) Read online

  Keep your focus on your work, she reminded herself, pulling her attention back to the broken saddle she was examining.

  “So? What’s the verdict, Latigo Kid?” Tanner asked.

  His casual use of the old nickname he always used for her caught her off guard. And when her startled gaze caught his surprised one, she guessed the name had fallen out unintentionally.

  She dragged her attention back to the saddle. “I don’t know if it’s worth fixing this,” she said quietly, examining the bottom, then the stirrup leathers. “Back billet is broken. The swell cover is ripped and it looks pretty rough. You’ve worked it over pretty good with that wire brush.”

  “Resin stays on better that way.”

  Keira acknowledged his comment with a quick nod. Saddle bronc riders often sprinkled resin on their saddles to help them stay seated. The wire brush roughed up the leather, so the resin stuck better.

  “The stirrup leathers should be replaced,” she said, continuing her litany of repairs. “You’ll need new latigos, and the D rings need to be reattached if not replaced. It’ll be a lot of work.”

  Tanner sighed as he tugged his gloves off and shoved them in the pocket of his worn plaid jacket. “But can you fix it?”

  “I’d need to take it apart to see. It might need a whole new tree. If that’s the case, two weeks?” She was pleased at how even her voice sounded. At how businesslike she could be. As if he was simply another customer.

  “That’s cutting it close,” Tanner said, scratching his cheek with his index finger. “I know you’ve got other projects going on, but is it possible to get it done quicker?”

  Keira would have preferred not to work on it at all. It would mean that, instead of him dropping in to say hello to his mother and then leaving, Tanner would be around more often so she could fit the saddle and make the necessary adjustments.

  It had taken her years to relegate Tanner to the shadowy recesses of her mind. She didn’t know if she could maintain any semblance of the hard-won peace she now experienced if she had to see him more often. Tanner was too ingrained in her past and too connected to memories she had spent hours in prayer trying to bury.

  “I’m gonna need it for the National Finals in Vegas,” Tanner continued. “I was hoping to practice on it before that.”

  “Your mother said you had qualified. That’s quite a feat.” Keira knew this from comments Alice dropped here and there, but overall, Alice kept most news of Tanner to herself, and Keira didn’t press for more. She knew she had no right to know what was going on in Tanner’s life. Not after she’d left him the way she had.

  She also knew Alice had been curious. But Keira wasn’t about to let her know everything.

  “I placed third overall in the regular season,” Tanner said. “Missed a few rodeos ’cause of injuries, so I’m hoping to do better in Vegas.”

  Tanner and his stepbrother, Roger, had ridden the rodeo together since they first qualified as novices. They had both ridden saddle broncs and competed in the same rodeos, often working their way up the ranks together.

  In fact, it was Tanner’s involvement in rodeo that had been one of the points of contention between them when she and Tanner were dating. She hated watching him risk his life each time he mounted a saddle bronc.

  She also hated the fact that after his father died, instead of working on the Circle C Ranch with Roger and his stepmother, he had taken a job working as a mechanic’s apprentice. Between his work and rodeoing, they’d hardly seen each other. She had always thought he would partner up with Roger to work on his father’s ranch. He’d been working on it since his father married Alice and moved in when Tanner was five.

  But after Cyrus Fortier died, Tanner went to work full-time as a mechanic.

  He couldn’t get work in Aspen Valley or Calgary, and ended up working for a mechanic in Lethbridge, a four-hour drive from the ranch. They had fought bitterly about that.

  She hated the long-distance. Hated that he didn’t want to live in Aspen Valley. Couldn’t figure out why he’d sooner work as a mechanic than on the ranch, and he wouldn’t explain himself to her.

  “I heard you’re still doing mechanic work, as well?”

  “Still pulling wrenches. But I own the shop now.”

  “Where is it?”

  “The same one I started working at before—” He cut himself off there but didn’t need to finish. Keira knew exactly what he meant.

  Before that summer when she left Tanner’s ring behind. When she left Tanner and Aspen Valley, without telling him why. Before that summer when everything changed.

  A heavy silence dropped between them as solid as a wall. Keira turned away, pushing the memories down again. Burying them deep where they couldn’t taunt her.

  But Tanner’s very presence teased them to the surface.

  Dear Lord, help me through this situation. I don’t have enough strength on my own.

  She looked up at him to tell him she couldn’t work on the saddle, but as she did, she felt a jolt of awareness. In his eyes she saw puzzlement and hurt. She tried to tear her gaze away, but it was as if the old bond that had once connected them still bound them to each other.

  Her resolve weakened and against her better judgment she took another look at the saddle, weighing, judging. “I don’t know…” Her voice trailed off. She wasn’t sure she wanted to have anything more to do with Tanner than she could possibly avoid. Fixing his saddle would put them in each other’s paths far too often.

  “I’d appreciate it if you could fix it. It means a lot to me.” His conciliatory tone, so at odds with the faint mockery that had laced his words previously, caught her off guard.

  She sighed, wondering again if she was letting sentiment dictate her actions. She turned the saddle over again, looking at it more closely. Then she frowned.

  “This saddle has some initials stamped on it,” she said quietly, turning the leather of the skirt over to show him. “I can’t make it out.”

  “R.F. Roger Fortier. It was my stepbrother’s saddle.”

  Roger’s saddle. Keira’s heart, already overworked, kicked up another notch. “Why are you using it?” She jerked her hands away.

  “In honor of him. We were getting to the end of the season when he died. He had qualified for the NFR. I promised myself to finish what he started. It took me two years, but here I am.”

  Keira looked the saddle over then shook her head. “I’m sorry, Tanner. I can’t fix it for you.”

  “What? Why not?” Tanner shot her a frustrated scowl. “I thought you said it would take two weeks.”

  “I don’t think I can find two weeks to work on it. I’ll get you the card of someone who might be able to help you,” she said, turning her back to him as she rummaged through the old wooden desk, her hands trembling again as she pulled a business card out of one of the drawers.

  Sugar, startled out of her sleep, stood and looked up at her, the dog’s head tilted to one side as if wondering what she was doing.

  Keira took a deep breath, sent up another prayer then handed the card to Tanner.

  He took it, then frowned. “Landolt?”

  “He does good work.”

  “Not as good as Monty. And you.”

  Keira’s hand lowered as she looked from the card Tanner held to the saddle laying on the table. It was as if that inanimate object encapsulated so much of what lay between her and Tanner. And what could never be changed.

  “There’s another guy in southern B.C., close to Sweet Creek, who Dad refers people to,” she said, turning back to her desk. “I’ll see if I have his information.”

  Just then the door of the shop opened, bringing in the chill of the outdoors and a flash of sunlight. Sugar jumped up and ran to the door.

  “Well, well. If it isn’t Tanner Fortier.” Her father’s voice boomed into the silence as he shut the door behind him, closing off the cold and the light.

  Keira turned in time to see Tanner enveloped in a bear hug by her tall, lean fat
her. Monty was easily six feet tall, but Tanner topped him by a couple of inches. Monty pulled back, shaking his head as he looked Tanner over. “You look like some castaway cowboy,” he teased, clapping a hand on Tanner’s worn jacket.

  “I feel like one,” Tanner retorted as a truly genuine smile softened his harsh features, put a sparkle in his dark eyes and disturbed Keira’s equilibrium. “Been a busy season.”

  “You did well, I understand. Enough to qualify for the NFR. Good stuff. Proud of you, son.” Monty beamed his approval. He had always liked Tanner. Solid, dependable. Hardworking.

  An overall great guy. Someone Monty easily called son as he had while he and Keira were dating. When they got engaged, her parents were thrilled. Part of that happiness was because Monty and Ellen needed some good news in their lives. Their oldest son, Lee, had just been sent to prison, and Keira’s older sister, Heather, had just moved to New York against their wishes. The engagement of a Bannister to a Fortier had been the one bright spot in that horrible year.

  Keira’s heart stuttered again.

  “And what do we have here?” Monty was saying as he picked up the saddle. “Not this saddle’s first rodeo.”

  “I brought it here hoping you could fix it.”

  Monty turned the saddle over and smiled. “I made this one,” he said. “For your brother, Roger.”

  “I was just telling Tanner that we don’t have time to work on it,” Keira said, praying again as she caught Tanner’s confused gaze in her peripheral vision.

  “Of course we have time,” he said, his frown showing her he didn’t get her unspoken message. “For Tanner, we make time.”

  “We’ve got an exhibition to get stuff ready for and that order from that store in Seattle,” Keira replied, wishing she could keep the pleading tone out of her voice. She had no concrete reason not to do the job, nor was she about to get into specifics.

  “Get Isabelle Cosgrove to come in and help you,” Monty said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind some extra hours. Or I can pitch in.”

  “The doctor said you had to slow down. I don’t want you working too much.”

  Monty waved off her concerns then turned to Tanner. “Just leave it here, son. We’ll get it fixed up for you one way or the other.”

  Keira maintained a veneer of tense restraint, but she felt it slipping. She wasn’t going to look at Tanner, but as if her eyes had their own will, they slid in his direction.

  It wasn’t hard to see the hurt and puzzlement on his face, and for a moment she prayed for a return to the muted anger he had shown when he’d first come in.

  That would be easier to deal with.

  God had been her refuge and strength the past few years. Her strong fortress. And from the way events were moving now, she would need His strength more than ever in the next few weeks.

  Chapter Two

  “You better come up to the house,” Monty said as Keira moved the saddle over to the workbench.

  Tanner shot another look at Keira, still baffled at her hesitation, but then turned his attention back to Monty. “Yes. I’d like to see how Ellen’s doing,” he said.

  “And your mother,” Monty added. “She’s been looking forward to your visit.”

  Tanner doubted that. He and his stepmother had never been close and less so since Roger’s death. She had never come out and said it, but he knew she blamed him for the accident. And why not? Tanner blamed himself, as well. If he had been more insistent, he would have been driving his stepbrother back to the hotel. And both he and Roger would have made it safely to Cheyenne.

  “Are you coming, Keira?” Monty asked as he dropped his worn cowboy hat on his head.

  “Maybe later. I’ve got to cut out some wallets before I quit for the day.”

  “Can’t that wait?” Monty asked.

  “No. Not if we have to work on Tanner’s saddle, too.” Keira’s unexpectedly sharp tone grated on Tanner. But he shook off his frustration.

  He’d gotten his first visit with Keira out of the way. Though he’d hoped his heart wouldn’t race at the sight of her, at least that was done. Maybe next time he saw her, he would feel more even-keeled.

  Help me, Lord, he prayed as he clapped his hat on his head. Help me get through this emotional tangle.

  He turned up the collar of his jacket and followed Monty out the door and over the snow-covered yard to the house, shivering as he stepped from the warmth of the shop into the chill of the outside air. Help me get through the next couple of days. Help me stay focused on what I set out to do.

  He felt guilty praying to God right now. Living the life of a rodeo cowboy wasn’t always conducive to a robust spiritual life. Too many late nights. Too many weekends taken up with riding and work and getting over injuries. Then back to work, only to repeat the same weekend cycle.

  But he knew God was real, and right now he needed all the help he could get.

  The snow squeaked under their feet, showing him how cold it was outside. Tanner looked out over the hills blanketed with snow undulating to mountains sharply etched against a sky so blue it hurt his eyes. Gray clouds were piling up on the horizon, hinting at potential winter storms.

  But for now, the sun shone on Refuge Ranch, sparkling off the snow-covered hills.

  “The house won’t be as noisy as usual,” Monty explained as they walked toward it. “Ellen usually takes care of John’s little girl, but he’s got her today. He’s doing some bookwork in his house.”

  “I heard that Samantha died two days after Adana was born. That’s a sad story.”

  “It is. But Adana’s a little treasure and we’re all crazy about her. Taking care of her is a small price to pay to have John able to keep working here. His father was the best hand a rancher could ask for, and John has the same cattle smarts his father did.”

  “John was always a good, solid guy,” Tanner said. “I always thought he and Heather were a better match than her and Mitch.”

  “Didn’t we all,” Monty said, shooting Tanner a look, as if he was thinking the same thing about him and Keira.

  Tanner kept his comments to himself. No sense in digging up the past.

  They walked up the steps, and Tanner pulled open the door to the porch.

  “Got company,” Monty boomed as the porch door fell shut behind them.

  Warmth from the adjoining kitchen slowly penetrated the many layers of clothing Tanner had on. He stripped off his coat and hung it and his hat on an empty hanger in the porch. Then he toed off his boots, set them aside and followed Monty into the familiar coziness of the ranch house.

  “We fixed up the kitchen since you been here,” Monty said as he led Tanner through the room as familiar to him as the kitchen on his parents’ ranch. “Ellen had a notion she wanted some fancy new stove and fridge and granite countertops. Place looks like a dairy barn with all these shiny appliances far as I’m concerned,” he said, waving a dismissive hand at the stainless-steel stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher. “At least she kept the table in the nook.”

  A large bay window with French doors opening to a snow-covered deck was home to a small wooden table with mismatched chairs that, Tanner knew, were part of Monty’s father and grandfather’s ranch house that this house had replaced.

  “Still looks cozy,” Tanner said, stopping by the table. He remembered drinking many a cup of hot chocolate in the winter or root beer in the summer at this table when he and Keira were dating. Refuge Ranch had truly lived up to its name when his own home had been a place of discord and conflict. Tanner’s father, Cyrus, had married Alice less than a year after his wife’s death, when Tanner was only five. Roger was born within the first year of that marriage. While Roger and Tanner always got along, Tanner remembered many fights between Cyrus and Alice, though he never knew the cause.

  Yet despite their antagonism, somehow Alice had inherited the entire ranch when Cyrus died. Tanner had suspected that his father had neglected to change his will as he had always promised Tanner he would. To be fair, Tanne
r wasn’t his father’s natural son. Tanner’s mother had come into the marriage with him when he was just a newborn.

  But Cyrus had always told him he would make sure he was taken care of.

  Tanner had foolishly assumed that would mean he would be part owner of the ranch he had worked on his whole life.

  He hadn’t figured it would mean that when push came to shove biology took precedence over promises.

  But shortly after the funeral, Roger had broken it to him that their father had willed the ranch to him. Roger offered Tanner the opportunity to work it as well.

  Tanner had been devastated but, in the end, not so surprised. When Roger was born, there had been a definite shift in his father’s attitude toward him. And with every passing year, Roger became the obvious favorite.

  Tanner had kept the shame and pain of it to himself after his father’s death, unable to tell Keira. He didn’t know how to break the news to her.

  All throughout their courtship she talked about moving to the Fortier ranch and how they would fix it up. Tanner knew how much she loved the wide-open spaces of the ranch and the valley. He knew how hard it would be for her to move into town.

  Too proud to tell her exactly why he wasn’t going to be living on the ranch after his father died, he started work as a mechanic, trying to scrape enough money together to find a small place outside town and still find a way for him to make a living. Weekends were spent rodeoing. Things had slowly been coming together and he’d weathered their fights, hoping to present his plan to her once he had a place to buy. Only then did he mean to tell her about his father’s will and the repercussions for them.

  He’d obviously waited too long. After a long spell of work and rodeoing, he had finally worked up enough courage to tell her about Cyrus’s will. He was on the road, rodeoing in Wyoming when he tried to call her. It went to voicemail, and he said he had something he needed to talk to her about.

  But she didn’t reply.

  Then he texted her. Again, nothing.

  He came back to Aspen Valley to talk to her in person, but she was gone. The only thing he got was a note she had left with her parents.