Mary Leo - A Cowboy To Kiss

“I know the Scotts are driving in for the wedding. Maybe Jan and Fred decided to show up early?”

Henry Grant, their dad, and Fred Scott had served in Vietnam together, and had a long-standing friendship. The two men would do anything for each other, and over the years, the Grant family and the Scott family had spent time on each other’s ranches. For the most part, those visits had been fun, but there was one member of the Scott family Kenzie never wanted to see again. One cowboy she hoped would stay home on the family ranch where he belonged.

The screen door behind them squeaked open, then banged shut. “Right on time,” Kenzie’s father, Henry, said.

“Dad knew about their early arrival and didn’t tell us?” Coco asked her sister. “I would have changed some of my commitments around. As it is, I can’t stay. I’m already late for my next appointment.”

“I think there’s something more to this than just an extended visit from Jan and Fred. When have they ever stayed longer than a few days? And why would they bring along some horses? No. Something’s up, and I’m getting a bad feeling about it.”

Kenzie glanced back at her mom who’d stepped out on the porch to join their dad. “I better make up another batch of bacon, and throw on some more flapjacks. Prob’ly drove all night and they’ll all be as hungry as a bear.”

“Why are the Scotts here so early, Dad?” Kenzie shouted back to her dad.

She couldn’t imagine why he hadn’t told her, especially since it now appeared as if they’d be staying on the ranch. The guesthouse hadn’t even been cleaned out yet. Kenzie had planned to have it done by the end of the week. It was on the top of her priority list, along with several other critical items. She’d been storing some combustible supplies in the guesthouse to keep them away from the livestock. She intended to move them to one of the sheds. Plus Carson had been promising to move all his equipment to his own shed at his rented house for weeks now. The timing of their arrival couldn’t be worse.

“Ain’t the Scotts, at least not all of them. Just one,” her dad finally said in that raspy morning voice of his.

Coco raised an eyebrow and caught the look of concern on Kenzie’s face. “What’s wrong? You look sick.”

Kenzie pressed a hand to her stomach and ignored her sister’s question.

Instead, she asked her dad, “Which one? I mean, which Scott?”

The words jumped from her mouth in a rush of adrenalin. There was only one member of the Scott family who got under her skin, one Scott who annoyed her to distraction and caused her blood to boil. Over the years, their rivalry had grown into a full-blown war. The last time they met up Kenzie was sixteen, and somehow that conniving, underhanded Jake Scott had managed to get her to kiss him. She hadn’t kissed a boy before that, and Jake knew it as soon as their lips met.

He’d laughed.

Right there in the middle of the kiss, he’d up and laughed.

It was possibly the most embarrassing moment of her life, and because of it, she’d stopped visiting the Scotts. And Jake, thank you very much, never showed up on the Grant Ranch after that. So it couldn’t be Jake Scott inside that pickup. It just couldn’t. She’d made it as clear as sunshine that she never, ever wanted to see or talk to him again as long as she lived.

“I’m not exactly sure,” he told her with that fatherly tone he took on whenever he didn’t want to be questioned further.

“I’ve got to run,” Coco said after she glanced at her watch. “Call me with the details. Sounds like our dad has something up his sleeve... Who knows? Maybe it’s a surprise for Mom for their anniversary. Think positive.”

Then she dashed off to her red SUV parked near the horse barn, started it up and drove past the Scott rig on her way off the property, sticking an arm out and waving at the driver.

Kenzie watched as the Scott truck and trailer came to a stop a few feet away from her. She waited, telling herself that Jake wouldn’t dare show up on the Grant ranch with so much time before her parents’ anniversary wedding, not after he hadn’t shown up for her sister Kayla’s three weddings or Carson or Callie’s weddings. He could have at least shown up for one of them. His parents and his brothers, Curt and Lucas, had been there for all of them.

Though Kenzie had never married, she’d heard that Jake was married in a private civil ceremony, but no sooner had that news come through that it was known he’d gotten a divorce. It seemed only fitting. No woman in her right mind could live with the likes of Jake Scott, who was no doubt a scoundrel.

She took a deep breath, and headed for the rig, just as the driver’s door swung wide open, and a pair of muddy Western boots hit the gravel. The man who wore those boots also wore an open crumpled long-sleeved black-checked shirt, with the sleeves rolled up; a tight black T-shirt that caressed a chiseled chest and a flat stomach; faded jeans, and a cream-colored Western hat that he slipped on his head. A big grin spread across a scruffy chin, and eyes the color of emeralds peeked out from under the wide brim of his low-slung hat.

Dora and Dolly ran to greet him, now excited about this new visitor. The cowboy bent over and gave them both a warm welcome.

Her darn knees went weak just looking at him, and for a brief moment, she felt swept up in the vision of pure cowboy walking toward her.

“Is that little Kenzie Grant?” the man asked, his deep voice searing her senses.

All she could do was nod.

“Darn, girl!” he said, “C’mon, bring it in closer.”

Then he held open his arms and waited for her to step in next to him.

But she didn’t.

They stood there for an awkward moment, neither of them really moving.

Everything was happening so fast, it made her dizzy with confusion. She could barely speak, much less allow him to take her in his arms.

“Don’t tell me you don’t recognize this ol’ cowboy? It’s me, Jake Scott, the kid you used to follow around like a motherless calf. Look at you.” His gaze quickly swept over her body, not in a lascivious way, but in a genuinely friendly way. But she still didn’t like it. “All grown up into one fine woman. Still playing cowboy with your fancy hat and your rodeo buckle. And will you get a load of those boots.” He whistled while gazing down at her feet. “Must be handmade with all that fancy work going on. Good gracious, you look like that doll you used to carry around in your back pocket.”

She resented his disparaging attitude.

“And you look like you slept in your truck.”

He tugged at his wrinkled shirt, smiling. “As a matter of fact, I did. But hey, I hear you’re runnin’ this ranch just like you told me you would. Always did admire that about you.”

Kenzie let out the breath she’d been holding as the fuzzy lens slipped from her brain and she could think clearly again. “Admire what?”

“Your spunk. You got it goin’ on in spades.”

“Thanks, but coming from you, I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or a barb.”

His deep laugh rumbled through her, as his eyes sparkled with the same amount of tease he had when they were kids. “Then nothing’s changed between us.”

“Should it have?”

“Absolutely straight it should. Come on over here and give this ol’ cowboy a big kiss.” He stepped in closer, and whispered, “I’m hoping you’re a little better at it than you were when you were sixteen.”

Kenzie could feel the blood rushing through her veins, could feel the anger exploding in her gut. She wanted to push him away, lash out, tell him what she thought of him, maybe even say something to wipe that grin right off his downright adorable face. Instead, she narrowed her eyes, and said, “I wouldn’t kiss you, Jake Scott, if my very next breath depended on it.”