Kathleen Eagle - Cool Hand Hank / A Cowboy's Redemption - Cool Hand Hank / A Cowboy's Redemption

“Care to join me in the back row?” he asked.

“Am I your assignment?” She threw her voice into her sister’s key. “If you’re not going to rehearse your song, could you keep an eye on Sally?”

“I didn’t quite catch what they said,” he claimed with a twinkle in his eye. “Something about drink. I’m supposed to buy you one or keep you from falling in. Either way, I could be in for some trouble. Are you a troublemaker, Sally?”

“I do my best. And I know you’re lying, because I’m not allowed to drink.”

“Anything?”

“Anything with alcohol in it.”

“Who said anything about alcohol?” He gave her a challenging look, his eyes growing darker and hooded, his full lips twitching slightly, unwilling to smile. “And who makes the rules?”

“Sensible Sally.” She gave the smile he denied her. “That was her alter ego down at the lake. Shameless Sally.”

“She’s got the right idea. Shame shouldn’t be allowed, either.” He tucked his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans. “So, what’ll it be?”

She looked at her watch. “Rehearsal in five. Can’t hardly whip up a good batch of trouble in five minutes. Sensible Sally drinks green tea on the rocks with a twist.”

Hank decided to “make that two,” and they left the dining room, glasses in hand, no hurry in their feet. Sally felt a growing reluctance to catch up with the little wedding party in the lodge library. The lakeside setting for the ceremony would be set up tomorrow, so tonight’s indoor rehearsal was literally a dry run. Sally knew her part. She’d seen it played out a hundred ways in movies, read the scene in dozens of books. Sensible Sally stayed in the house a lot. Shameless Sally couldn’t go out to play until the unreliable body caught up with the willing spirit, and now that the two were working in tandem, she would go where the spirit moved her.

“Look!” She pointed to a window, grabbed Hank’s arm and towed him out the front door on to the huge covered porch. A procession of trail riders passed under the yard lights on their way to the pasture below the lodge. “How was the ride?” Sally called out.

“Beautiful!” said one of the helmeted riders. “Made it to the top of Harney Peak.”

“Let’s go up there tomorrow,” Sally said to Hank. “You ride, don’t you? We should.” She turned to the riders. “Where did you get the horses?”

“We brought our own. We’re a club.”

“But there’s a hack stable close by,” said the last rider as she passed under the light. “Ask at the desk.”

Sally looked up at Hank. “We could go really early.” She turned, cupped her hand around her cheek and shouted at the last rider’s back. “How long did it take?”

“All day!”

Sally scowled. “I’ll bet I could take a marker to the programs and change the time. The lake is beautiful this time of day. Night.” She pointed to the white moon hovering above the ponderosa pines. “It’ll be full tomorrow. Imagine Annie in her white gown, and Zach…well, he’s wearing black, but can’t you just see it? Moonlight on the lake?”

“I did, yeah. Beautiful.”

“They don’t need us. They wouldn’t even notice. Look.” She took his hand and led him to the end of the porch, pointed to the tall, bright corner windows that showcased the rehearsal getting under way in the library.

Sally could see Zach’s niece and nephew perusing the bookshelves that flanked the stone fireplace. Zach was having a chat with his brother, Sam. Annie and the minister were poking through a sheaf of papers. “My baby sister’s getting married tomorrow,” she whispered. Hard to believe. The window might have been a movie screen, except that she knew these people—some better than others—and what they were doing was exactly what they’d been talking about for months. It was happening. Sally’s little sister was getting married. “They won’t notice anyone but each other tomorrow.” She squeezed Hank’s hand. “Let’s do it.”

“Do it?”

“Tomorrow. Let’s ride to the top of Harney Peak.”

“Zach’s a good man. They don’t come much better.”

“Oh, I know that.” She drew a deep breath and laughed. “But I love the smell of horse in the morning.”

He laughed with her, and that felt good. Even better when he took control of the hand-holding and led her back into the lodge as though they were in this together, a two-part unit joining a group of two-and-more-part units. She could come to like this man much more than Sensible Sally would normally permit.

The first person they ran into when they entered the library was the wizened cowboy who would be giving Annie away. Hoolie was draped over a pair of crutches near the door, prompting Sally to ask gently whether his ankle was bothering him again, whether he was coming or going.

“Thinkin’ about getting outta the way until they decide what they want me to do. One of them kids tripped and near busted my cast.”

“It was an accident,” the sandy-haired boy called out over the top of the book he’d been reading.

“Man, they can hear good when they want to, can’t they?” the wiry cowboy muttered, glancing at Hank. Then he turned to the boy. “I know you’re sorry, Jim. No hard feelings. I can still hobble.”

“Hank, this is Henry Hoolihan, our foreman.”

“Hoolie.” He offered Hank his hand. “Nobody’s called me Henry since I was Jim’s age. Who dug that up?”

“I don’t know, but it’s on the program,” Sally said. “Jim and Star are Zach’s brother’s kids. Say hello to Hank Night Horse, Zach’s doctor.”

The children sang out as instructed, but Hoolie said, “Doctor?”

Hank glanced at Hoolie’s cast. “I work the rodeo circuit as a physician’s assistant. Zach’s been a pretty steady customer the last few seasons.” As one, the three turned their attention to the couple attending to wedding business on the far side of the room. “He’s a good hand.”

“Was,” Sally said. “He says he’s retiring.”

“The body can only take so much,” Hank said. “Some guys don’t know when to quit. I’m glad Zach’s not one of those guys.” He looked at Sally. “He’s still a good hand.”

“We love Zach,” Sally said with a smile. “Don’t we, Hoolie? I’m being summoned. Let’s get this over with so we can eat. And then on to the fun stuff.” She touched Hank’s sleeve. “Keep your program handy. We had one dull moment scheduled in, but then you came along and buffed it up, thank you very much.”

“The pleasure was mine.” He eyed her hand and then raised his dark gaze to her eyes as he leaned close to her ear. “Seein’ as how the buff was yours.”

Sally’s neck tingled. An icy-hot shiver blew apart and streaked gloriously throughout her body. She stood still, waiting for the feel of another warm, magic breath.

“Sally, we need you!”

She let her hand slide to the edge of Hank’s cuff where she could feel his working-man’s skin. “Hold that thought,” she said.

At dinner, Sally did her maid-of-honor duty by making the rounds among family and friends. Sally and Ann had lived on the Drexler ranch in South Dakota all their lives. But the family had been reduced to the two of them, along with Hoolie, who had come to work for their father before they were born, outlived him, and earned the privilege of giving the bride away. And now they had Zach, who brought his mother, Hilda, and brother, Sam, to the Drexler fold—hardly big enough to fold—along with Sam’s new wife, Maggie, and their two children. But the Beaudrys made their home in Montana, and Zach had become a rolling stone until he’d rolled to a stop at the Double D. The wedding was Zach’s reunion with the Beaudrys as well as his formal initiation into the Drexler clan. The Beaudrys couldn’t contain their joy, and why try?