Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) Read online

  Smiling, she lifted her head, intending to snicker at her sister but…dang, it wasn’t her sister who filled her view.

  Tall, broad shoulders and chest, muscles bulging out from under his red, rolled up sleeves, brown hair, dancing brown eyes and those darn dimples…six-foot-four-inches of Texas testosterone. The equivalent of saturated fat. Tasted good but wasn’t good for you.

  Granted, she’d only had a little taste when he’d briefly kissed her at her parent’s anniversary party back in September. But it had been enough for Kerri to scratch him off her menu—permanently. That small sampling promised to be as delicious as a fresh from the oven cannoli dipped in chocolate. How could she stop at just one? She couldn’t, hence the permanent scratching off part.

  Besides, she preferred men with class, who’d pick her up for a date wearing a suit and enjoyed the fine arts. Not a brash, long-haired cowboy whose favorite pastime was teasing and never took anything serious. One who thought dressing up was donning a new pair of jeans. Whose idea of culture was the black velvet painting of a pack of poker playing, cigar smoking, bulldogs hanging in his office.

  A smirk hovered on her lips, while her gaze traveled up the tall Texan. Maybe she’d gotten this all wrong. Maybe he was out of her league…

  Having put things into a clearer perspective, Kerri felt better and turned her attention to her father who’d started to speak.

  “…yes, my daughters are beautiful and headstrong. Like their mother.”

  “And smart like their father. I’m sure it was quick thinking that kept them safe,” her mother added, slipping an arm around her father’s waist.

  All thoughts of the troubling cowboy left Kerri’s head as the events of that horrible day came rushing back again.

  Absently rubbing her shoulder, she was thankful the only scar she suffered was of the skin and not of the heart. Her chest tightened, restricting her breathing. Jordan had come so close to dying. So close. No one in the room, not even her sister had any idea it had been a mere millimeter that had separated life from death last Sunday. Just a hair higher and the big chunk of plate glass would’ve sheared…would’ve killed her sister.

  God. She couldn’t get that moment out of her head.

  “Maybe it’s a sign you should leave California and move back here to Texas like we did, Kerri,” her father said, his grin a little too mischievous for her peace of mind. “There’s plenty of room at our house now that renovations are almost completed.”

  Her parents had repurchased the house they’d sold when they moved to California eleven years ago. She’d been fifteen, nearly sixteen, and Jordan had been almost seventeen when their father had gotten a promotion and moved his family to the west coast.

  The place she now called home.

  “No, dad. I love it out there, especially since Jordan and I opened Comets two years ago.” Kerri swallowed. She still couldn’t believe it was gone. All gone. The invisible vise gripping her heart hadn’t eased since the explosion. The loss of their restaurant ran deep. Cooking was her life.

  After graduating from the New York School of Culinary Arts, she’d been lucky to honeymoon and train a few weeks in Paris before landing a good job, along with her former husband, in one of California’s premiere restaurants.

  Life had been good…until she’d caught Lance cheating with a coworker. That’s when her outlook on the world had changed. Her confidence in her feminine-side had changed. She’d changed. No longer seeing the world as a perfect soufflé, she left her job, and husband, and opened Comets with her recently widowed sister.

  The restaurant had been a lifeline for them both. Her heart squeezed tighter. Jordan no longer needed that lifeline. She had Cole. But nothing had changed for Kerri. Other than life had gotten worse. What would she do now?

  “What about Texas? Don’t you like it here?” Alex McCall asked, coming to stand in the middle of the room.

  All eyes turned to Kerri. Her face heated. Again.

  “I-I love it here, too. Texas will always be special to me.” She smiled. Texas did hold a lot of found memories…and a few embarrassing ones.

  Like teenage Connor and Cole dripping naked at the water hole when she and Jordan had stolen their clothes. Her first glimpse of a full-monty male had been…holy wow.

  “I guess it’s true what they say. You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the girl.” Mrs. McCall grinned.

  “I guess not.” Kerri laughed, wishing they’d change the subject. They should be celebrating her sister’s engagement, not wasting time on her. She lifted her chin. “So, are we going to toast the happy couple, or not?”

  “You heard the little lady. Gather around.” Mr. McCall handed out glasses of Dom Perignon. Her favorite. “Here’s to Jordan and Cole. A marriage eleven years in the making.”

  A chuckle went around the room before everyone took a sip of the chilled liquid.

  “I’d say it’s more like twenty-eight years in the making,” Connor corrected. “Cole was smitten with her right from the beginning.”

  Kerri found herself standing across from the cowboy and allowed her gaze to take a closer look, from under her lashes, of course.

  Being five years older, Connor always appeared tall, and although she’d grown up and was by no means small at five-foot-eight-inches, she still felt that way next to him. He towered a good eight inches over her now, and his trim muscular frame had gotten broader and more defined, deliciously stretching his red flannel shirt to its limits.

  The bugger.

  Finally allowing her gaze to move to his face, Kerri’s insides fluttered. Holy cow. He cut his hair.

  The brown locks the sun loved to kiss with highlights in the summer and that would curl out from under his Stetson showed little evidence of either. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him wear it this short.

  Following his hairline, the cut came in front of his ears in a slight sideburn, giving him a more respectable look. Her fluttering increased. The style gave depth to his dancing brown eyes and emphasized a strong jaw sporting a five-o’clock shadow, which did nothing to disguise the sexy dimples that showed up with his ever-present lop-sided grin.

  This new Connor didn’t look like a reckless cowboy at all. In fact, she had no trouble picturing him in Armani. Darn it. Her gaze dropped to his left boot again. Forget the Marlboro Man, he could easily model for GQ.

  She took a long sip of the bubbly in order to calm her jumpy nerves. Why in the world did this uncouth, sexy, reckless…cowboy have this effect on her? She didn’t like it at all. Not one little bit. Kerri always prided herself in being in control but gosh-darnit, whenever he was near that trait seemed to disappear along with her common sense.

  Looking up, she caught her father and Mr. McCall studying her strangely before their gazes darted away.

  Ah, great. Her throat dried. She knew that look. They were in match-making mode. Again. And this time she was the target along with…

  Her gaze drifted back to Connor. Those darn dimples appeared, backing up the amused glint in his eyes. He’d definitely witnessed their fathers’ exchange. Of course he was laughing. Her and him? Yeah, biggest mismatch of the century. The sexy, cowboy chick-magnet and the girl who was more at ease turning on an oven than men.

  Well, whatever the case, she didn’t want any part. No way. And figured Connor didn’t either. As far as she knew, he’d been engaged three times, and after his last fiancée was arrested for murdering a husband Connor had no knowledge of, Kerri heard he’d given up on marriage for good.

  She certainly had.

  Just thinking about her former marriage and all her inadequacies brought a sour taste to her mouth. No thanks. She’d weathered enough self-depreciation storms, thank you very much.

  A sudden need to escape the room became overpowering. She’d had enough. Needed a breather.

  Placing her glass down on the nearest table, Kerri walked as nonchalantly as possible to the door and slipped quietly from the room.

>   Connor McCall’s gut twisted tighter than a rope around a bull’s horns as he watched the beautiful west coast chef close the door. Their fathers’ were up to something. He’d seen their exchange.

  Well, it wasn’t going to work. Hell no. He’d already told them. Not on this cowboy. Just because they’d managed to help bring Jordan and Cole together, they now thought they were experts. But what the experts failed to realize was his brother and fiancée had a thing for one another since their childhood.

  Not at all the case with him and Kerri.

  Sure she’d been a cute, smart, sweet kid who’d grown up...okay, amazing. Still, despite her beauty, Connor had absolutely no interest in obtaining a wife. Been there. Tried it. Failed miserably. Three times. And each time it had ended in devastation instead of marriage. Cripes. After the last one, he had absolutely no wish to go for number four.

  She sure grew into a looker though, Connor thought with a twitch of a smile tugging his lips. Long, straight, chocolate brown hair fell past her shoulders while a smattering of bangs covering her forehead and temple. All of this framed a heart-shaped face that held the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. Eyes that mesmerized and could stop a bull at twenty paces.

  God, they were gorgeous. Big and brown with lashes so thick he doubted she used makeup. They drew him in, held fast, tugging deep in his gut. And her lips? Damn. His insides twisted tight. He’d never forget when he’d briefly touched them with his own a few months back.

  Full and soft, she’d tasted like strawberries. Sweet, succulent strawberries. That was the good part. The dangerous part was the current that’d shot straight to his toes. His toes! What the hell? The unexpected sensation caused him to abruptly end the kiss, apologize and run away as fast as his cowboy boots would take him.

  He was no idiot. That woman could hogtie and filet him in under eight seconds if he was so inclined. Which he was not. Hell no. Not him. Never again.

  “How’s Kerri really doing?” Mr. Masters asked Jordan, bringing Connor’s attention back to the conversation.

  “She puts on a good front, but she’s hurting,” his future sister-in-law replied. “That restaurant was her life.”

  Connor set his teeth and resisted the urge to rub at the unknown ache residing in his chest.

  “I know. Poor baby.” Mrs. Masters sighed. “I wish we could do something.”

  Jordan nodded. “Yeah, me too, but I don’t think she’s going to be here long.”

  “Really?” Her father’s frown matched his dad’s. “We’d hoped she’d at least stay until after the holidays.”

  Connor had to admit, half of him wished that, too. The stupid half.

  Scratching the bridge of his nose, he fought a grin. Cripes. Some days he really was hopeless.

  Until this year, he’d always regarded Kerri as an adorable little sister. One he enjoyed teasing and laughingly tolerated.

  Boy, had that changed drastically in April. When he’d come out of the stables with Cole and saw the tall, elegant, curvy woman standing in the driveway next to Jordan, his stomach had gripped tight and his damn heart nearly beat a hole clean through his chest.

  And now, jeez, now his foolish body suffered the same abuse every time the gorgeous cook was in his presence. Every. Single. Time. Connor didn’t like it. Not one damn bit.

  Kerri was a city girl.

  A city girl.

  That in itself was a big enough strike against her, and a hell-of-a-good reason for him to keep his distance. So then, why did he still entertain thoughts of doing exactly the opposite?

  All three of his former fiancées were city girls, and he’d long vowed never to get involved with another one again. Ever.

  Even though Kerri was born in Harland County and spent the first fifteen years of her life in Texas, her time in California had been almost as long and recent. Her west coast residency easily cancelled any redeeming qualities from the former. Take her jeans, for instance. As a youngster, she’d lived in them. As an adult? He had yet to see her in a pair. Did she even own any? Doubtful. All she seemed to wear were fancy dress pants and heels.

  Yes. The cook was a regular city girl now, and despite her beauty and its affect on him, Connor wasn’t going to fall for his father’s well-meaning, if not totally misplaced, matchmaking attempt. And he could tell by the apprehension that sometimes flittered through her gaze that she wasn’t interested or was afraid of him for some reason, which was unfounded…and unimportant. It didn’t matter what put that look in her eyes. He wasn’t interested.

  Swallowing down what was left of his champagne, Connor walked over to the table and set his glass next to Kerri’s. They needed to talk. And fast. Telling his body and his brain that the pretty cook was just his little sister and nothing more, Connor felt better able to seek her out and head this matchmaking off at the pass.

  As soon as the door closed, Hannah Masters turned to her husband Nate and smiled. “Well now, that was interesting.”

  “It certainly was, sweetheart,” he said with a grin.

  “I’ll say,” Alex McCall agreed, slapping Nate’s back.

  Cole groaned. “You’re not seriously going to try to set Connor up with Kerri, are you?”

  Hannah watched as Alex turned to his son, brows raised. “We didn’t do so bad with the two of you, did we?”

  “No,” Jordan replied, hugging Cole close. “But we’ve always had a thing for each other.”

  “True,” Cole agreed.

  He looked at her daughter with so much affection it warmed Hannah’s heart.

  “There’s the difference.” Jordan smiled before kissing Cole’s cheek.

  Alex and his wife Leeann exchanged a look before Hannah turned to her daughter and frowned. “You don’t think Connor and Kerri are attracted to each other?”

  “Yes, I do,” Jordan replied. “But that’s not the point.”

  Nate stepped close and dropped an arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “Then what is?” her husband asked, looking at their daughter.

  Jordan exhaled slowly as she shook her head. “Kerri has a lot on her plate right now. The last thing she needs is to be badgered. Besides, I really don’t see her staying past this weekend.”

  Not exactly what any of them wanted to hear, but Hannah had to admit, she’d gotten the same impression from her youngest the second she’d stepped foot on the ranch. They hadn’t been here more than five minutes when her eyes took on a look of flight.

  “We aren’t going to badger,” Alex insisted. “Just give a slight push when needed.”

  “Yes. That’s all,” Leeann agreed.

  But Hannah knew her husband was going to do whatever it took to make sure their daughter stuck around long enough to realize something amazing happened to her whenever Connor was close. She lit up. Came alive, didn’t walk around just existing. And even better was the fact the same thing happened to Connor when Kerri was near.

  Those two belonged together, or at the very least, could help each other to head in the right direction. And none of that could take place if Kerri left so soon.

  She wasn’t about to let that happen. No. She just needed a little help.

  Hannah smiled at Jordan and Cole. “Oh, I think we can guarantee Kerri will stick around.”

  “You do?” Her oldest blinked at her and frowned. “How?”

  Hannah exchanged a quick look with a smiling Leeann then glanced back at her daughter and grinned. “Well now, that’s where the two of you come in.”

  Chapter Two

  It took all of five seconds for the jumbling inside Kerri to subside. She poured herself a glass of ice water and leaned against the counter feeling much better, much calmer. Looking around the McCall’s quiet kitchen, she understood why. This room represented nothing but fun and happy times. A smile tugged at her lips as she recalled the many lessons their cook, Emma, had given to a young and eager protégé when Kerri had only lived ten minutes away.

  Twirling an ice cube around in her mouth, she pondered her homele
ss situation. For the past three nights, she’d been staying with Jordan at their friend Megan’s house, and now with her sister’s engagement—which Kerri was sure wouldn’t be a long one—her job situation was suddenly unknown.

  Just happy to be alive, she hadn’t given any real thought about her unemployment. She naturally assumed she and her sister would rebuild, but now that Jordan would soon become Mrs. Cole McCall, her sister wasn’t going to leave Texas. And she wouldn’t expect her to.

  But, where does that leave me?

  “I figured I’d find you in here, kiddo,” Connor said.

  Caught off guard, her heart kicked against her ribs like a bucking bronco while a startled gasp ripped up her throat, propelling the ice cube from her mouth.

  Of course, it couldn’t just land on the floor and make the situation only mildly embarrassing. No. The sucker had to shoot straight across the room and hit the handsome cowboy square in the chest.

  “Well now, darlin’, for a city girl, you’ve got a heck of an aim,” he drawled.

  The sexy dimples made an appearance, and her face heated beyond scalding.

  “Oh, Connor, I…I’m so sorry.” Hand to her throat, she blinked. Feeling like an idiot, which lately wasn’t much of a stretch, Kerri grabbed a napkin from the counter, rushed forward and dabbed at the wet spot centered over his heart.

  It leapt.

  No, she had to be wrong. Why would his heart leap? It wouldn’t leap. Okay, now she was imagining things, just like she was imagining the thundering taking place under her palm.

  Thundering. How silly. Her heart was thundering. Not Connor’s. She was such an idiot. No way would this virile cowboy’s heart leap or thunder because of her. No way. Her rapid pulse was starving her brain for oxygen. That’s what it was. She was hallucinating. Because if not, that would mean…that would mean he…and it couldn’t mean…

  He cleared his throat. “Ah, darlin’, a little water isn’t gonna hurt me none.”