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

  Nicole glanced around the room as memories of other evenings in other motel rooms crowded in.

  Nicole tried to push the memories away, but the emotions of the past day had made her vulnerable and her mind slipped back to a vivid picture of herself, sitting on a bed in a motel room, a little girl of five, waiting while her aunt smoked and strode back and forth, watching through the window.

  When Nicole’s natural mother died, her father, a long-distance trucker, put Nicole into the care of his sister, a bitter, verbally abusive woman.

  Whenever he came into town, Nicole’s aunt would bring her to a motel where they would meet her father. She would stay with him for a couple of days and then he would be gone.

  That evening they waited until the next morning, but he never came. His truck had spun out of control and he had died in the subsequent accident.

  After six months, her aunt had her moved to an already-full foster home.

  Four years later, she was adopted by the Williams family at age six, and her life went from the instability of seven foster homes in four years to the stability of a wealthy family. She was told enough times how blessed she was, and she knew it.

  Yet each night as she crawled into her bed, she would wonder when it would all get taken away. People had always left her. It would happen again.

  Then something magical and miraculous happened to her and the Williams family. Norah, who was never supposed to be able to conceive, became pregnant. When Hayes was born, Nicole bonded with this little baby in a way she couldn’t seem to with Norah and Sam. Hayes became as much Nicole’s child as Sam and Norah’s.

  Nicole took care of her with a fierce intensity. She stood up for her when Hayes ran to her with stories of being bullied. Nicole consoled her when Hayes poured out her stories of heartbreak and sorrow. Defended her to Sam and Norah whenever Hayes got into yet another one of her many scrapes. She was Hayes’s confidant.

  Then Hayes turned fourteen. She withdrew over the next few years. Became sullen and ungrateful. She started hanging around with the wrong crowd and staying out late. Nicole had tried to reason with her, to explain that she was throwing her life away.

  But Hayes kept up her self-destructive lifestyle for three more years. Finally, in frustration, Nicole fought with her. Told her she was wasting her life. That she was treating Sam and Norah horribly. That she was being a terrible daughter.

  Then Hayes, too, left and never came back.

  Nicole got up, grabbed her purse and walked out of the motel. She walked down the street, then up it again. She let the cooling mountain air soothe away the memories. She bought a sandwich, returned to her motel room and dove into her work. A few hours later she took a shower and crawled, exhausted, into bed. She needed all the rest she could get.

  Tomorrow she would be seeing Kip Cosgrove again.

  Tomorrow she would have other battles to fight.

  “So she has some legitimacy?” Kip leaned his elbows on his knees, then frowned at the grass stain he saw on his blue jeans. He should have checked before he put the pants on.

  Of course he was in a hurry when he left the ranch.

  Of course he had to go through a mini-battle to get Isabelle to agree to take care of her nephews while he was gone.

  “As an aunt to the boys, she has as much right as you do,” Aria Waldren, his lawyer, said, leaning her elbows on the desk. “As for her claim about Scott not being the father, unfortunately it’s a matter of her word against yours now that both the principals in this case are dead. We’ll need more information.”

  “Hayes was doing drugs. Scott needed to protect them. Then Hayes abandoned the boys, Aria.”

  “Well, now we know that she was dead for three years,” Aria said. “And if what Nicole says is true, she did try to look for them before she died.”

  Kip blew out a sigh of frustration. When Nicole had told him that, he felt as if his world had been realigned. Ever since Scott showed up at the farm with the two boys, Kip had burned with a righteous indignation that a woman could leave these boys all alone. An indignation that grew with each year of no communication.

  Now he found out she’d been dead and possibly didn’t know where Scott was.

  If what Nicole said was true.

  “The trouble is we don’t have a legal document that grants custody to you,” Aria said, frowning. “Do you have their birth certificates?”

  “No. We were in the process of getting them when Scott died.”

  “And it sounds like this Nicole might have a document that gives them to her.”

  “Would it be legal?”

  “It’s a holograph will. We’d have to verify her handwriting, etcetera. Though you’ve been the primary caregiver—and any court would look at that as well—the reality is you don’t have legal backup for your case.

  “I know what Scott told me.”

  Aria blew her breath out, tapping her manicured fingers on the surface of the worn desk. As always the incongruity of this stunningly elegant woman practicing law out of this older building struck him. Aria had come back to Aspen Valley after many years away. She never said why she left and Kip, who had known her in school, never asked. Not his business. Besides, Aria wasn’t the confiding type. “She and Scott got along? He never did anything to her?” she asked.

  “Of course not.” Kip barked his reply, then forced himself to settle down. Ever since Nicole had walked into their lives, he’d been edgy and distracted.

  He had too much responsibility.

  The words dropped into his mind with the weight of rocks.

  How could he think that? He loved his nephews dearly. He wasn’t going to let Nicole take them away. Especially not after promising his dying brother that he would take care of them. There was no way he was backing out on that. Not after what had happened to Scott.

  Guilt over his brother’s death stabbed him again. If only he hadn’t let him get on that horse. The horse was too green, he had told him, but Scott was insistent. Kip should have held his ground.

  Should have. He shoved his hand through his hair. The words would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  “Trouble is, we don’t have a lot to go on,” Aria continued, leaning back in her chair, arms folded over her silk shirt. “Your main weapon is the primary-caregiver option. You’ve been taking care of Justin and Tristan. And the diary seems to underscore your case as well. That’s what we’ll have to go with if this gets to court.”

  “Court? Would it get that far?”

  “I think it will. I’ll get Freya to do some digging to see if I can avoid that, but no promises.”

  No time. No time.

  The words bounced around Kip’s mind, mocking him. He didn’t have time to fight this woman.

  “Whatever happens, I’m not letting some high and mighty Easterner come and take the boys simply because she has some piece of paper and I don’t,” Kip said as the door to the office opened.

  He stopped mid-rant and turned in his chair in time to see Nicole standing in the doorway, the overhead lights of the office glinting off her long, blond hair and turning her green eyes into chips of ice.

  Chapter Four

  Nicole glared at Kip Cosgrove, wondering if he could read the anger in her eyes. She doubted it. He sat back in the chair, looking as if he was completely in charge of the situation and his world.

  I’ve got a legal will, she reminded herself.

  The boys are Hayes’s.

  “Good morning,” she said, projecting pleasant briskness into her voice. She’d dressed with care this morning. Her tailored suit was her defense in the boardroom of her father’s foundation and it became her armor now.

  Her gaze ticked over Kip and moved to the woman sitting on the other side of the desk. Her shirt was a simple boatneck style which was the perfect foil to the statement necklace she wore. Chandelier earrings hung almost to her shoulders. She didn’t look like any lawyer Nicole had ever met before. She looked more like a fashion model.

&nb
sp; Nicole pulled herself back to the moment and introduced herself. “My name is Nicole Williams, but I’m sure you already know that.”

  “Aria Waldren.” She stood, gave her a welcoming smile and shook her hand. At least she looked friendly, which was more than she could say for Kip Cosgrove with his deep scowl.

  Aria sat back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. “I understand we have a problem we need to resolve.”

  Nicole shrugged as she set her briefcase on the floor beside her chair. “No problem as far as I can see. I have a will from Hayes Williams giving her parents, Sam and Norah Williams, full custody of the boys, Justin and Tristan Williams. Norah Williams has passed away, but Sam is very much alive.” Nicole took out a copy of the will and placed it on the wooden desk in front of Aria. “You can keep that for your records.”

  Aria glanced over the papers. “This will hasn’t been filed with any legal firm, or put together with the help of a lawyer?”

  Nicole shook her head. “No, but it is witnessed and dated.”

  “By whom?” Aria kept her eyes on the papers, flipping through them as she frowned.

  “I don’t know the woman. Apparently, it was someone that Hayes lived with.”

  Aria’s slow nod combined with her laissez-faire attitude grated on Nicole, but she kept her temper in check. She had to stay in control.

  Then Aria sat back in his chair, her arms crossed, now serious. “We could easily contest the legality of this holograph will.”

  Now it was Nicole’s turn to frown. “What do you mean?”

  “How do we know this is Hayes William’s signature? And who was this friend? Anyone could have put this together.”

  Kip leaned forward and she couldn’t help glancing his way, catching a gleam in his eye.

  “So you’re saying this isn’t as cut-and-dried as some people think?” Kip asked.

  Hard not to miss the pleasure in his voice. Nicole fought back her concern. She had too much riding on this situation. Sam was expecting her to bring these boys back. It was what she had to do.

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “So that makes things a bit easier,” Kip said with an obvious note of relief in his voice.

  “We have our own lawyer working on this case,” Nicole added, just in case Kip thought she was simply rolling over. “We have copies of Hayes’s handwriting and photographs of her with the boys.”

  “Birth certificates?” Aria asked, her chair creaking as she leaned forward, glancing over the will again.

  “Again, that’s something our lawyer, James Feschuk, is working on.” Dropping James’s name, however, got no reaction. Either Aria didn’t know him or didn’t care.

  “So things are still in limbo?” Kip asked. He tapped a booted foot on the carpet, as if he couldn’t wait to get out of there. Nicole wasn’t surprised.

  He looked as if he was far more at home on the back of a horse than sitting in an office.

  Which made her wonder why he wouldn’t let the boys on the horses. He seemed so unreasonably angry with her when she took them to the horse corrals.

  And why did she care? The boys were leaving this life as soon as possible.

  Aria tapped her fingers on the desk, shaking her head as if to negate everything Nicole had said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think anything can happen until we get all our questions answered.”

  “Great.” Kip got to his feet. “Then we’ll wait.”

  “Not so fast, Kip,” Aria continued. “The other reality is we can’t completely negate Ms. Williams’s claim on these boys. She does have some rights for now.”

  Nicole’s frustration eased off. She had been ready to do battle with this small-town lawyer.

  Kip had already grabbed his denim jacket but clutched it now, his gray eyes staying on Aria, ignoring Nicole. “What rights?”

  “Visitation, for one,” Aria said.

  Kip blew out a sigh and shoved his hands through his hair as he glared at his own lawyer. “How will that work?”

  Time to take control. “I would like to visit the boys every day,” Nicole said.

  Kip finally turned his attention to her. “Every day? For how long?”

  “I think that’s something we can settle here and now,” Nicole said. “I was thinking I could come and pick up the boys and take them for a visit either morning or afternoon. Whichever is convenient.”

  Kip made a show of looking at his watch, as if he was the only one in this room with a schedule to keep. Then he sat down and leaned back in his chair. “Okay, I’m thinking something else. I’m thinking you can see the boys every day, but the visits have to happen on the ranch and under my supervision.”

  Nicole frowned at that. “Why?”

  Kip held her gaze, his frown and piercing gaze giving him a slightly menacing air. “I only have your word that you are who you are, and until Aria is satisfied as to your claim, I’m not letting Justin and Tristan out of my sight.”

  His antagonism was like a wave and for the briefest moment, fear flashed through Nicole. He reminded her of a wolf, defending its pups.

  Then she pushed her fear down.

  “And how would these visits be apportioned?”

  “I’m guessing you mean how much time and when?”

  “Precisely.”

  Kip raised an eyebrow and Nicole knew she was putting on her “office” voice. She couldn’t help it. She felt as if she needed the defense.

  “You come from two-thirty until five every afternoon. That’s what works best for me.”

  “Two and a half hours? Is that what you consider a visit?”

  “Take it or leave it,” he added.

  She didn’t have much choice. Right now, she may hold a will, but until it was proven legitimate, he had the right of possession—if that was the correct way to term guardianship of the boys.

  “Those terms are…fine with me,” she said, trying to sound reasonable. She wasn’t fighting him over this. Not yet. In the end, she knew she would be proven right, but in the meantime, the boys were in his care and on his ranch and she could do nothing about that.

  “I’ll get my paralegal, Freya, to draw something up,” Aria said, picking up her phone. “Just in case there are any repercussions.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Freya came into the office with a sheaf of papers. She gave Kip a sympathetic smile which he returned.

  Nicole suspected that they knew each other. Maybe he’d even dated her at one time for all she knew. Kip seemed like the kind of guy that women would be attracted to.

  Just not her, she reminded herself.

  Freya left, Aria explained what they were signing and they were all given a copy.

  Kip folded his over and shoved them in the back pocket of his jeans. Nicole put hers in her briefcase.

  “There is one more thing,” Nicole said quietly. “My father insists that we do a DNA test.”

  “What?” The word fairly exploded out of Kip’s mouth. “What do you think this is? CSI Alberta?”

  “It’s not that complex. There is a test that can be ordered, and I’ve checked into the locations of the clinics where they can be brought. We would require your mother to take a test and my father, given that the parents of the boys are dead.”

  “Is this legal?” Kip asked his lawyer.

  “I was going to suggest exactly that,” Aria conceded. “I would recommend you get your mother to take it. It would bolster your case, Kip.”

  More likely ours, Nicole thought.

  Kip narrowed his eyes as he looked at Nicole, as if he didn’t trust her. “Okay. If you think it will help, Aria, I’ll get Mom to do it.”

  “I’ll find out more about it and let you know what has to happen,” Aria said.

  “So that’s settled.” Kip shrugged his jacket on and gave Nicole the briefest of nods. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Nicole gave him a crisp smile. “Actually, I’d like to come to the ranch now.”

  Kip faltered, his frown deepening. �
�As in today?”

  “As in, I have just been granted visitation from two-thirty to five every afternoon.” Nicole gave him a cool look as she too got to her feet. She didn’t like him towering over her, but even in her heels, she only reached his shoulder.

  “I thought we’d start tomorrow.”

  “I have every right to start today.” She had signed a paper giving her those rights. He had no reason to deny her.

  Kip blew out a sigh as he dropped a tattered cowboy hat on his head. “I don’t have time today.”

  Nicole lifted her shoulder in a delicate shrug. “You’re the one who set out the terms of the visits.”

  Kip held her gaze, his eyes shadowed by the brim of the cowboy hat. Then he glanced down at her tailored suit and laughed. “Okay, but you’d better change. The boys are helping me fix a tractor this afternoon.”

  “Should I bring a hammer?” she said, determined not to let him goad her.

  “Just a three-eighth-inch wrench and a five-sixteenth-inch socket,” he returned.

  “Excellent. I just happened to bring mine along.”

  “In your Louis Vuitton luggage?” This was tossed back at her, underlined with the arching of one of his eyebrows.

  “No. Coach.” And how would a cowboy like him know about Louis Vuitton?

  “Cute.” He buttoned his jacket. “This has been fun, but I’ve got work to do,” he said in a tone that implied “fun” was the last thing he’d been having. “See you when we see you.”

  When he closed the door behind him, it was as if the office deflated. Became less full, less dynamic.

  Nicole brushed the feeling off and turned to Aria. “I’ll get my lawyer to call you. He’ll bring you up to speed on his side of the case, and the two of you can discuss the DNA tests.”

  Aria got to her feet and pursed her lips. Then she sighed. “I’m not speaking as a lawyer anymore, but as a friend of Kip’s. You may as well know that Kip Cosgrove dotes on those boys. He goes everywhere with them. Does everything with them. He has since those boys moved to the ranch with his brother.”