Page 1 of A Sweet Deal for the Cowboy

Chapter 1

“What’s got you in such a sour mood?” Kash asked.

Gunner ground his teeth together. “I’m not sour,” he lied. He had gotten to church too early. Why had he gotten there so early? Oh yeah, because he’d been in a hurry to get away from his ranch.

“How are things going with Rocky and Bullwinkle?” Kash asked.

Gunner’s jaw started to hurt.

Bella, Kash’s girlfriend, giggled. “Is that really their names?”

Gunner waited for Kash to answer her, but he didn’t, because that would have been a normal thing to do. “No,” Gunner said without looking at her. He liked Bella, but he didn’t like sitting beside the obnoxious love birds. They’d been together for over a year now. Shouldn’t the giddiness have worn off by now?

Polly, Kash’s daughter, must have sensed his unease because she slid off the pew and came and climbed up onto his lap. He wrapped an arm around her so she would know she was welcome.

“So then why did you call them that?” Bella asked Kash.

“Because that’s their names.”

“No, it’s not,” Gunner said. He was going to have to find a new pew. But then he’d have to sit alone. And he wouldn’t be able to sit in the back anymore. He was glad his brothers had all renewed their interest in God, but he resented that they’d infiltrated his back pew peace. He took a breath. None of this was Bella’s fault, and he didn’t want to be rude to her. “They didn’t even know each other when I hired them. Rocky’s nameis Rocky.” He gave Kash some side-eye that he hoped would scold him, but Kash only laughed. “And the other man’s name is Simon. His nickname is Bull. Kash here has named him Bullwinkle, but I bet the farm that he would never, ever say that to his face because Bull would squash him like a stink bug.”

Polly giggled. “Stink bug,” she repeated.

“Oh.” Bella elbowed Kash. “Stop calling him that. I don’t want to have to visit you in the hospital.”

Kash laughed. “Don’t worry. I am man enough to run away when I need to.”

Gunner rolled his eyes. Sometimes Kash reminded him of a goat. Goofy, stubborn, and dumb, but entertaining enough that people kept him around.

The service started, and Gunner silently thanked God. He stood for the opening hymn and kept Polly in his arms, even though she was getting heavy for this. He would do it while he could. His brother Colton’s wife Adeline was expecting, so he hoped Polly would let him hold her until he could hold that little guy. Or girl.

Gunner had accepted that he would never have kids of his own—he was forty now, after all—but he’d found that he really liked being an uncle, so he wanted Denver, Colton, Ryker, and Tucker to have lots of kids. As awesome as Polly had turned out, he wasn’t sure it was safe for Kash to reproduce anymore.

They all sat after the hymn, and an elder approached the pulpit wearing a somber face. He shared that Kathy Feeldy had died the night before. A hush fell over the congregation. This was incredibly sad, as she’d been young and left three young children behind, but she’d also been sick for a long time, and they all knew that the end might be near. Her husband had died only a year before in a logging accident. Gunner felt a little sick wondering about what would happen to the kids.

He knew that Kathy had an older daughter too, and he scanned the room for her, finding her near the front with her head bowed. The elder went on to ask for prayers for Kathy’s oldest daughter, Nova, which reminded Gunner of her name. Nova was a cool name. The prayer request was vague, but it sounded like Nova was trying to get custody of her siblings, and that this wasn’t going well.

The elder led a prayer, and Gunner’s heart went out to the woman sitting in the front pew all alone. Despite how tired she looked, she was beautiful. Her long, thick, wavy hair made him think of autumn leaves. Her angular face made her look strong.

After the amen, they stood for another hymn, and Bella asked, “How old are the kids?”

“The oldest two ride my bus,” Kash said. “There’s a third one in pre-school.”

“I don’t get it,” Bella said. “She’s their sister, right? Why wouldn’t they give her custody?”

“Because she’scrazy,” Kash said. Coming from Kash, Gunner knew this wasn’t an insult. It could mean a variety of things, and none of them negative. He’d probably meant that she lived life on the wild side—like he’d done for a long time.

“Don’t say that,” Bella scolded him. She obviously hadn’t accurately translated Kash’s comment.

“No, really,” Kash said. “She’s a total hippie. She follows some folk band around the country in a van. CPS wants you to be married, employed, and having a place to live before they’ll give you kids.”

Gunner’s chest ached.

No one was going to love those kids like their own family.

It wasn’t fair. To Nova or her siblings.

Chapter 2

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