Page 60 of Cowboy Don't Go

A stunned shock registered on all their faces as the pups tumbled down the stairs after Liam and spilled into the front yard in a black and white furry jumble. Ray and Cooper caught them and picked them up. Sarah touched Liam’s arm. “Are you all right, darlin’?”

He shoved a hand through his dark hair. “Fine. Just shook up, is all. Back door’s busted. Just wish I’d had my gun.” He returned to the 911 operator and told her they had it handled.

“What is going on?” Sarah gave a shudder. “That’s twice in one month. What in the world does that guy want with us, anyway?”

“This guy,” Liam said. “He just yelled at me. Kept saying, ‘Where is it?’”

“Where is what?” Sarah asked, confused.

“That’s a damn good question.” Liam had the look of a ruffled-up stock guardian dog.

Cooper scowled at the darkness beyond the yard. He should tell them about Clulagher. Tell them now. But that was bound to go badly for everyone. He was in no position to accuse anyone of anything. Least of all a dead husband and father. He needed to talk to Trey Reyes first, and he needed some kind of proof that Tom Hardesty was involved.

The flip side of that coin was implicating their father-husband in a crime. The deeper Cooper waded into all of this, and the more involved he got with Shay, the more certain he was that, if he wasn’t careful, all of it could go very wrong.

A sick feeling hit the back of his throat as Shay took his hand in front of the others.

“He’s probably just some crazy looking for drugs,” she said. “Or drug money. On the positive side, we outnumber him by a lot. And the alarm system we ordered goes in later this week. I say we stick close to home. Strength in numbers and all that.”

Everyone was staring at her hand in his.

She blinked at them in confusion. “What?” Then she realized. “Oh.” She flicked a wry look up at him and cleared her throat. “Yes. Yes, we are. Seeing each other.”

It was a moment that should have made him very happy. He tightened his fingers around hers and met her family’s stares. And his father’s. “We are.”

“Oh!” Sarah exclaimed. “Well, darling, that’s . . .”

“Crazy timing.” Liam looked befuddled. “But yeah. We already knew.”

Ray patted him on the back as Cami’s truck pulled into the driveway coming back from the fair. She hopped out with a curiously wary expression. “What are we all doing standing out here? What did I miss?” She immediately caught sight of the handholding. “Ohh-hhh!”

“Yeah, it’s way more complicated than that,” Shay told her. “I’ll tell you inside.” She kissed Cooper on the mouth, and he grinned back at her.

“’Night, Cooper. ’Night, everyone.” As she and Cami walked away, he made eye contact with the others without a word, then turned and headed back to the apartment, feeling like a Judas.

*

The next morning, Liam drove into town to buy glass to repair the door while Cooper helped Shay unpack the boxes from Tom’s old office in the new one upstairs. The shelves Liam had built would hold most of it and after they got the desk cleared, it would look like a real office again.

The two of them had shaken off last night’s troubles and after working for an hour, stopped to share some experimental cappuccinos Shay made in the new espresso machine they’d just unpacked for the main guest lobby. It was an extravagance, but necessary. The cappuccinos, on the other hand, would require some work.

She made a face. “Oooh. That’s a leeeetle bit strong.”

Cooper struggled to swallow his. “Nah. It’s just . . . perfect.”

She tilted an amused look at him. “I promise, it’ll get better. Once I figure out that milk steaming thingy.”

“It’s the grind.”

“The grind? Really? How would you know that?”

“Did I not mention I worked as a Starbucks barista in college?”

“No.” She lifted a box onto the desktop. “But you were on full scholarship.”

“With a work-study component.” He shrugged. “Learned everything you never needed to know about making coffee.”

“Then you are absolutely in charge of Kendall.”

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