Debra Clopton - Her Unexpected Cowboy

He was headed toward the barn when Lucy came out of the back door carrying an armload of Sheetrock pieces. She wore her protective goggles again and another long-sleeved work shirt. Her jeans were tucked into a pair of low-heeled brown boots. How could a woman look that good in that get-up? He must be losing his mind.

Tucking a thumb in his waistband, he gave her a skeptical look. “So I’m thinkin’ you have something against walls.”

“Yup.” She chuckled as she strode past him to toss the load in her arms on the pile with the other discards. “I like open space. Don’t you?”

“Yeah, but you do know a house has to have some walls inside it to hold the roof up?”

She paused. “I’ve left a few.”

“But have you left the right ones? Maybe you should hire some help. I know some contractors who could do this for you. Safely.”

She stared at him for a moment, a wrinkle forming above her goggles. It suddenly hit him that she didn’t look like she was in a good mood.

“Did you have a reason for stopping by?”

So he was right. “I just dropped by to check on you. Make sure you weren’t dangling from high places.”

The crease above her goggles deepened. “Actually, I’ve managed a whole day without mishap. Of course, there was a tense moment when I climbed up on the roof and lost my balance walking the peak.”

His blood pressure spiked even as he recognized she was teasing him—so maybe she wasn’t in a bad mood after all. “I’m glad you’re teasing me.”

“Had you there for a moment, though.”

“Yes, you did.”

She smiled sweetly. “The thing is, Rowdy, I just met you yesterday, and while I am very grateful that you saved my neck, I really don’t know you. And that being the case... Well, you get what I’m saying?”

Get out of my business. Okay, so maybe she was in a bad mood—twinkling eyes and all. He was losing his touch reading women. That was an understatement. He hadn’t read Liz right at all. Not until her husband had shown up and punched him in the nose had he suspected he’d gotten involved with a married woman. His stomach soured just thinking about it.

Looking at Lucy, he held his hands up. “You are absolutely right.” He planned to leave it at that, get in his truck and hit the road; after all, it wasn’t any of his business. The problem: Rowdy was known for not always doing what he was supposed to do. He’d suffered from the ailment all of his life.

“But you don’t know what you’re doing.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could edit them.

Lucy’s eyes flashed fire his way before she spun on her boot heels and strode back into the house, leaving him standing just off the porch.

Clearly the woman did not want to hear what he had to say. Any man with good sense would get in his truck and head home to tend to his own business. There was sure no shortage of it and that work was what he’d promised himself and the Lord he was going to do for the next year.

But what did he do?

He followed her. That’s what.

Right through her back door and in the direction of a sledgehammer beating the stuffing out of a hunk of wood somewhere inside the house.

All the while telling himself he needed to mind his own business. He had a well-thought-out plan for his life—he was done jumping off into relationships impulsively. He’d given himself at least a year to be completely single. He’d made the deal with the Lord—no attachments—and he’d almost made it.

So what are you doing?

Chapter Two

Leave it to her to get a nosy, arrogant cowboy for a neighbor!

What was his problem? Who was he to come here and question her intelligence? Did he really think she’d be stupid enough to knock out the walls that held her house together?

Lucy swung the sledgehammer and took unusual pleasure when it hit the two-by-four stud exactly where she’d aimed—where it connected to the wood on the bottom of the frame.

She’d been startled to walk outside and find him standing there looking all masculine and intriguing... Why did she keep thinking of him like that? Since the fire—since Tim’s betrayal—she’d been around men, some even more handsome than Rowdy McDermott. But she’d not given them a second thought, other than to acknowledge that she was done with men. When a woman learned she’d been married to the poster boy for extramarital affairs, those scars weren’t easy to heal.

Why, then, had she thought about her new neighbor off and on ever since he’d left the day before?

Maddeningly, he’d been the last thought she’d had going to bed and the first upon waking. Swearing off men had suited her. She swung the sledgehammer again, feeling the point of impact with a deep satisfaction. God forgive her, but she knew visualizing Tim every time she swung was not a good thing. Yet it was the best satisfaction she’d had since that woman had walked into her hospital room and exposed the lie Lucy’s life had been.

Lucy swung again, harder this time. Her hands hurt with the jarring impact as the hammerhead met the solid stud.

No. She did not appreciate the cowboy showing up and causing her to realize just how much she longed to be able to trust someone. And why was it exactly that Rowdy McDermott had her thinking about trust?

She would never trust a man again.

“Well, I guess that answers my question.”

Lucy jumped, so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard Rowdy come into the room.

The humor in his voice was unmistakable.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she snapped. She hadn’t really expected walking away from him would make him leave. So it really didn’t surprise her that he’d followed her inside. After all, he had already proved he was nosy.

“You don’t like walls. And you need help.”

Of all the nerve. “If you must know, I planned to hire help.” She yanked off her protective eyewear with one hand and set the sledgehammer against the wall—getting the thing out of her hand might be the smartest thing. “And again, if you must know, I was enjoying myself too much to do it.”

He’d stopped smiling at her angry outburst, looking a little shocked. Now that infuriatingly cocky grin spread again across his features, like a man who knows he’s charming.

Well, he wasn’t to her.

“Stop that,” she blurted out. His grin deepened and his eyes crinkled at the edges. He was fighting off laughter—at her!

“So you’re angry with someone, and knocking out walls satisfies a need inside of you. I get it now. For a little thing, you really do have a lot of anger issues.”

Her jaw dropped and she gasped. “Of all the—”

“How about if I help you out?”

“Do what?” The man had pegged her motives somewhat correctly at first guess. Yet if he only knew of the anger issues buried so far back inside her, he would not be grinning at her like that.

“Hire me—I’m cheap and will work just to watch the fireworks. You put on one entertainingly explosive show.”

“This is outrageous,” she huffed. Crossing her arms, she shot daggers at him—he’d think explosive. “I bet you don’t get many dates, do you?”

He chuckled deep in his chest and her insides curled like a kitten in response. “We aren’t talking about my love life. We’re talking about me helping you out.”

Lucy could not get her foot out of her mouth. She should never have mentioned anything to do with dating. Talk about getting into someone’s business!

“Well,” she faltered, still stuck on that chuckle.

“Look, like I said yesterday,” Rowdy continued, “my nana is going to have you over to dinner next week and if she finds out you need help and I didn’t do the neighborly thing and help you, believe me, it won’t be pretty. So help a fella out and put me to work.”