Debra Clopton - Her Unlikely Cowboy

After a moment he turned away, and she watched him take a step, stiff at first, then better after a couple of steps. Still, though his expression didn’t show it, she sensed he was in real pain.

Good.

The mean-spirited thought jumped into her mind instantaneously. Shame engulfed her. She’d been outspoken in the past, when needed, but never mean-spirited.

Death changed a person. Hardened up the heart like a cement block—she hated it.

She hated everything about this process of loss and its life-altering aftermath.

The truth was, she had no choice but to be here and hope with all her heart that Tucker McDermott and the Sunrise Ranch could help her son. Abe was the only reason she was here.

Her fifteen-year-old was hurting so bad on the inside that the only way he could cope was to lash out in ways that scared her for him. Her son, who needed more than she’d been able to give him.

Over the phone when she’d spoken with Tucker, before coming here, he’d given her his word that all would be well. She was praying that Tucker’s word meant as much as Gordon believed it meant...

Gordon had been a few years younger than Tucker when he’d come to live at Tucker’s family’s ranch. A working cattle ranch that was also a foster home for boys who’d been abandoned and were alone in the world. Gordon had looked up to Tucker and he’d told her he’d become a marine because Tucker was a marine.

Gordon would have walked through fire for Tucker and had told her if anything ever happened to him she should turn to him for help.

As it turned out, her husband had given his life for Tucker...

And left her to raise their son alone.

Tucker McDermott was the last person she wanted to turn to for help, but her son was in trouble and Suzie would do whatever it took to save him.

* * *

An hour after he’d been kicked, Tucker watched the trailer loaded with donkeys drive away. His hip throbbed like the pounding of a heavy-metal band...and since he had a metal plate in his thigh, it stood to reason. It was feeling better, he thought as he eased into the seat and closed the door. Totally conscious that he was being watched from the rented moving truck twenty yards away, he turned off his lights, backed up, then headed toward the ranch with Suzie following.

He’d been shaken to look down at the flaxen-haired woman helping him and discover Suzie Kent’s remarkable blue-green eyes.

So much had crashed through his mind at that moment. Guilt for being alive when her husband was dead. Sorrow for what the war had cost her and her son—and Gordon. But there was the other emotion that swept through him strong and swift and deep...attraction.

Gordon had shown him her picture over and over when they were stationed in the Middle East. No one in the unit had missed seeing Suzie’s photo. He’d been so proud and so in love with her. And Tucker could completely understand why—not just because of how beautiful she was, but because of the person his comments set her up to be. She’d sounded like a kind and caring woman, and her actions proved it. She didn’t just send letters to her husband, but also care packages filled with his favorite things. And she always sent along plenty for the other marines in his unit—a thoughtful gesture appreciated by all.

Suzie Kent was the real deal and Gordon had been a lucky man.

Tucker hadn’t been so lucky in love, before his stint in the marines or since. He’d been too in love with his career—this had been pointed out to him several times and it had been true. Driven to make a difference in the world was what he’d called it.

He wasn’t marriage material back then, still wasn’t. But he knew finding what Gordon and Suzie had found together wasn’t easy.

He’d been happy for Gordon, though, and drawn to look at Suzie’s pictures as often as Gordon wanted to show them. Everything was raw and harsh and brutal where they’d been, and looking into Suzie Kent’s sparkling eyes had made him feel that there was hope in this world.

That he was fighting for goodness to prevail.

Moments ago, Tucker had looked down and Suzie hadn’t been a photo any longer. She’d been real, and staring into her eyes, brutal reality had struck him like a bolt of lightning. Suzie Kent had once been full of life, fun and vivacious. Now she was sad and struggling to hide it.

Worry was etched into her expression and imprinted in the depths of her eyes. She seemed skittish, too, and uncertain.

And it was because of him.

If he’d died and Gordon had lived, she wouldn’t be having the trouble she was having with her son or her life.

And, as much as he wanted to help Abe, Tucker wanted just as much to bring back the girl in those photos.

He knew deep in his soul that Gordon would have wanted that.

And as he began the drive toward the ranch with Suzie following, Tucker vowed once more that he would not let his fallen friend down.

Chapter Two

Turmoil rolled in Suzie’s stomach like bad chicken salad as she followed Tucker down the country road. Pastures spread out on either side of the road, and yellow flowers were everywhere, carpeting the hillside in sunny yellow—goatweed, she knew, but pretty nonetheless.

When a majestic, wooden entrance came into view she knew this was Sunrise Ranch before she saw the name and before Tucker slowed and turned into the drive. Gordon had described everything perfectly.

In the distance, she could see the tops of the ranch buildings. She didn’t look at Abe, but she felt him straighten in his seat and bend forward slightly, as if to get a better view. Her heart squeezed tight with hope.

They topped the hill, and the ranch spread out before them.

“This is where your dad came to live about the age you are now,” she said, even though he already knew this. “He loved it here. I can see why.”

Abe had stopped talking much about Gordon over the past year. It was as if he were angry with him for not being around. She understood. She had her own anger issues to deal with.

“Your dad had described it just like this,” she said, loving the look of the place as she pulled to a halt beside Tucker at the rear of the large ranch house—a welcoming two-story house with an expansive back porch, inviting one to sit a spell overlooking the ranch compound. Out to the side of the house, an office and then a chow hall sat connected by porches and plank sidewalks. Small wooden signs swinging from the covered porches confirmed this, but she knew it from Gordon’s descriptions.

Directly across the white rock parking lot was an older, but extremely well-maintained red stable that he’d said was at least a hundred years old. Gordon had loved the stable—she could still hear the awe in his tone when he talked of the baby horses being born there.

Beside the stable was a massive silver barn with an arena and corral attached. And out in the distance sat another building with playground equipment behind it—this was the schoolhouse.

There were boys everywhere, it seemed. Some were in the arena with a few cattle, others were on horses, riding toward them across the pasture. No sooner had Suzie parked than it seemed their truck was surrounded.

Suzie could easily tell that the bright-eyed boys were all ages, the youngest seemed to be eight or nine but there were all heights and ages.

Surely one of these boys would be a good friend to Abe.

She was about to open her door, but a dark-headed kid who looked amazingly like a young Elvis pulled it open for her.

“Hi, ma’am. Welcome to Sunrise Ranch. I’m Tony.”

She could not help but smile. Not only from the fact that he did, indeed, sound like Elvis, but also because just the simple act of courtesy gave her another swift surge of hope. His eyes twinkled with goodwill and happiness—as her Abe’s once had. Please, God, let this be the answer.