Read the book: «Her Last Chance Cowboy»

Chapter One

Trouble.

Tripp Walker sensed it the moment he drove around the bend. He hit the brakes as he came upon the beat-up silver Honda parked awkwardly on the shoulder of the two-lane road that led to Big Heart Ranch. Dangerous place to park, which no doubt meant the vehicle was disabled.

His gaze shot toward the sky to assess the weather. Several hours ago, a tornado watch had been issued for Osage County, Oklahoma. Conditions were ripe for dangerous storms and even a tornado. By the time Tripp finished his business in Pawhuska and passed through the small town of Timber, the watch had changed to a warning, meaning a tornado had been sighted.

Overhead, the angry gray clouds tinged with green crowded closer, making the threat of the first tornado of May all the more real.

When a ping hit the windshield and frozen pellets began to descend, Tripp made a split-second decision. Despite his need to get back to the ranch and out of the dangerous weather, he couldn’t ignore the disabled Honda. He parked a safe distance from the vehicle and flipped on his pickup’s emergency flashers.

Pulling up the collar of his denim jacket, Tripp reached for his cowboy hat before he got out. He inhaled. The air smelled like a storm was imminent. The smell of the ugly, some folks called it. Rain and ozone mixed together.

Hail continued to fall fast enough to form shallow puddles of white as he headed to the Honda and rapped his knuckles on the driver’s-side window.

The tinted window inched down a fraction and a woman’s big brown eyes met his gaze. She stared for a moment, no doubt taken aback by the scar that ran down the left side of his face, stopping right beneath his eye. After eighteen years, he was used to people staring.

“Ma’am, do you need assistance? Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Okay? Not lately,” she replied with a sigh.

“What’s wrong with your car?”

“Apparently, I ran out of gas.”

His glance swept the Honda, from the cracked windshield on the passenger side to the temporary tags hanging in the rear window. Colorado. Well, that explained the funny way the woman talked. Definitely not an Okie. But it didn’t explain why she was driving around in this weather. “Didn’t you hear the news of the tornado warning on your radio?”

“The radio is dead and my cell is off to save battery life.” The window inched down a little more and her gaze followed his to the dark sky. “Has a tornado been sighted?” she asked.

“Funnel cloud south of here.” Tripp frowned and turned back to the woman, whose face registered alarm.

“Why aren’t there any sirens?” she asked.

“Too far off the beaten track. The only thing up this road is Big Heart Ranch.”

“That’s where we’re going.”

He barely had time to register the word we when a little girl, about five or six years old, poked her head into the front seat. She pushed back a riot of orange curls and grinned up at him. “We want to go to the ranch and see horses, Mr. Cowboy.”

Tripp bit back a smile, his good humor fading fast as he realized the child was in the path of a tornado. “I’ll take you to Big Heart Ranch.”

“And who are you?” the woman asked, her gaze assessing.

“Tripp Walker. I’m the equine manager at Big Heart,” he said, annoyance mounting. “Ma’am, we need to hurry.”

The driver’s-side door opened and a petite dark-haired woman stepped out. She opened the back seat passenger door. “I’m Hannah Vincent. This is my daughter, Clementine.” The child sat in a booster seat and stared up at him while clutching a pink stuffed horse. She was dressed in clean pink jeans and a pink patterned long-sleeved shirt. Clearly, the kid had a penchant for that color.

“Come on, baby, we’re going to the ranch.” Hannah unbuckled the straps and pulled her daughter into her arms.

“Horses?” the little girl asked.

“Shh,” Hannah said. “We can discuss that later.”

Tripp glanced at Hannah’s left hand. No ring. Though his head tried to stop him, his gut moved quickly to judgment. Plain irresponsible. Who ran out of gas in the middle of a tornado?

Irritation continued to brew as he ran a hand over the scar on his face and worked to control the emotions he’d so carefully learned to stuff years ago. He’d spent a lifetime paying for the sins of an irresponsible single mother. Now the memories all came rushing back.

Hannah faced him with Clementine in her arms. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Just dandy.” Tripp turned and headed to the truck. He held the passenger door open. Hannah lifted Clementine into the cab and then put her foot on the truck’s running board. When she reached for something to hang on to, he took her arm and guided her into the truck.

“Thank you,” Hannah said.

He offered a curt nod.

She pulled Clementine onto her lap and inched nearer to her side of the vehicle as he went around to the driver’s side.

Once he got in, Tripp gripped the steering wheel and turned his head a fraction to meet Hannah’s dark eyes.

With that tumble of wavy chocolate-brown hair that touched her shoulders, and a face devoid of makeup, she seemed harmless. But he knew only too well how deceiving looks could be. As if sensing his annoyance, Hannah moved even closer to the door.

They headed down the ranch drive toward a split-log archway with the words Big Heart Ranch burned into a hanging sign. He stopped the truck in front of a drop-arm barrier that kept unauthorized visitors out and put his key card in the reader slot.

“Is this the ranch?” Clementine asked as the arm lifted.

“It is,” he said.

The child’s orange corkscrew curls bounced when she turned to look out each of the pickup’s windows. “Where are the horses?”

“They’re in the barn because of the storm. You’ll get to see them before you leave.”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Cowboy.” She rewarded him with a huge grin. The kid had a smile that could warm even the most frozen hearts.

When his cell phone rang, Tripp pressed a button on the dashboard. “Walker.”

“Looks like the funnel cloud jumped past us. Storm moving in. A big one,” the mature female voice on the speakerphone said.

“Thanks, Rue. I’m bringing guests to the admin building.”

“Guests?”

“A Hannah Vincent. She ran out of gas on her way to see the Maxwells.”

The sound of papers shuffling could be heard. “The receptionist is out until Monday, but I’m looking at the appointment list she left and I don’t see a Hannah Vincent. Is she here to see all of them?”

Tripp turned to Hannah, and she nodded.

“That’s right, Rue.”

“Well, no worries. I’ll find them and we can sort it out.” She chuckled. “Just get out of that weather.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Once again, Tripp looked at his passenger. “You have an appointment at Big Heart Ranch, right?”

“Not exactly,” Hannah said.

“Not exactly?” Tripp exhaled and held back a biting retort. Though the tension in the cab was palpable, he focused on driving, staring straight ahead out the window where fat drops of rain began to splash on the glass as he approached the administration building.

His job was to manage the horses. It would be good to remember that. Hannah Vincent was Lucy Maxwell’s problem now.

Tripp pulled the truck into a parking lot and led them out of the rain and into the brick building. “This way.” He opened the door to a small conference room where Rue Butterfield sat with a cup of coffee watching the news. The gray-haired physician and retired army general turned to offer their guests a welcoming smile. “Welcome to Big Heart Ranch.”

“I hope I’m not...” Hannah began. She pushed back rain-dampened hair from her face.

“You’re not.” Rue stood. “Big Heart Ranch aims to be a refuge in the storm. Literally.” She chuckled and held out a hand in greeting. “I’m Dr. Rue Butterfield.”

“Hannah Vincent. This is Clementine.”

“Clementine!” Rue grinned. “Now isn’t that a unique name?”

“It’s ’cause of my hair,” the little girl said. “It’s orange.”

Tripp bit back a smile when Clementine shook her head back and forth, causing the bright curls to move with the motion.

“Your hair is quite lovely and I am certainly pleased to meet you, Miss Clementine.” Rue offered a hand in greeting. “I’m Miss Rue.”

“Rue. That’s a nice name, too.” Clementine shook Rue’s hand and smiled, obviously delighted by the grown-up gesture. “Mr. Cowboy is going to show me horses.”

Rue lifted her gaze to Tripp. “Oh, are you, Mr. Cowboy?”

He knelt down next to the little girl. “You can call me Mr. Tripp.”

“Mr. Tripp.” She scrunched up her face and looked hard at him. “You are a cowboy, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Do cowboys keep their promises?” Clementine asked.

“Always.” He stood and turned his attention to the television screen on the wall. “What’s going on with the storm?” he asked Rue.

“Funnel touched down on Route 66. No damage reported. Looks like we’re safe. For now, only thunderstorms.”

“I like rain,” Clementine said.

“So do I.” Rue smiled at the little girl and then turned to Hannah. “You’re here to see the Maxwells?”

“Yes.”

“Did they know you were coming?”

“Um, no.” Hannah adjusted the purse on her shoulder and clasped her hands together. “This was sort of spontaneous. I drove straight from Denver.”

“That’s a long drive,” Rue returned.

“Yes. Thirteen hours.”

“We paid our respects,” Clementine interjected.

Rue’s eyes rounded, reflecting confusion and surprise at the comment. “How did you say you know the Maxwells?”

“I’m a relative.”

Rue blinked. “I wasn’t aware that they had any living relatives.”

“Neither was I... I mean, until recently,” Hannah stammered, her attention on Clementine.

“So how is it you’re related to the Maxwells, dear?”

Tripp kept his eyes on Hannah Vincent. She took a deep breath and looked up. Her gaze moved from Rue to him.

“If you don’t mind, I thought I’d discuss it with the Maxwells,” Hannah continued.

“Of course. I don’t mean to pry.”

Hannah offered a hesitant and awkward nod.

Rue glanced at Tripp and he returned her searching expression with a slight shake of his head. If she wanted answers, she was looking in the wrong direction. He didn’t have a clue and he didn’t want to know, either.

“How about a cup of coffee?” Rue asked Hannah. She picked up her own mug from the table and smiled. “Fresh pot.”

“May I please have a glass of water?” Hannah asked.

“Certainly. We’ve got chocolate muffins in the break room. Our Emma is quite the baker.” She cocked her head toward Clementine. “Would that be okay for...?”

“Yes. Thank you very much,” Hannah returned.

“Come help me, Tripp,” Rue said.

He narrowed his eyes at the good doctor, but she ignored him and started down the hall. When they entered the kitchenette, Tripp released a breath. “I smell a scam.”

“Oh, don’t be so cynical.” She paused. “Colorado is where their parents died, and where the kids went into foster care.”

“Okay, so why didn’t she call and schedule an appointment? Why surprise them on a Friday afternoon?” he asked.

“I have no idea.”

“I’ve known the Maxwells for eight years. I was their first employee. If they had family, I would have heard about it by now.” Tripp began to pace back and forth across the tiled floor as he continued to mull the situation.

Rue shrugged and reached for two glasses from the cupboard. “They’ll be here shortly, and I guess we’ll find out.”

Find out? He didn’t want to find out. This entire situation made him uneasy. Tripp pulled off his cowboy hat and ran a hand through his short hair. All he wanted to do was go back to the stables and be left alone.

He froze at the sound of the big glass door of the admin building opening and then closing with a whoosh and a dull thud. Boots echoed on the tile floor, along with soft murmuring. The Maxwells had arrived.

It was like the still before a tornado, and after thirty-four years in Oklahoma, he knew better than to stand in the path of a storm minutes before everything was getting ready to break loose.

* * *

Hannah swallowed hard as she faced the Maxwell siblings seated across the conference table from her.

Lucy, Travis and Emma in person. All dark-haired with dark eyes and generous mouths accustomed to smiling. And they were smiling now, which was a good sign. The Maxwells were accompanied by their spouses.

Jack Harris, Lucy’s husband, was an attorney. Emma Maxwell Norman’s husband, Zach, a former navy SEAL, sat next to his wife. The man looked like he could break her in two with his pinky.

Travis sat holding hands with his wife, AJ, a pretty blonde in a denim jacket who’d entered the room with a straw cowboy hat on her head. She was clearly very pregnant.

Though Rue was entertaining Clementine in another room, they’d asked Tripp Walker to stay. The man was just like family, Lucy Maxwell Harris, the oldest, had said. Pretty scary family, in her opinion. He wasn’t smiling and hadn’t since she’d met him, except when he was speaking to Clementine.

The man baffled her. He’d been nothing but a gentleman when he had rescued them. And when she’d struggled to climb into the cab of his truck, the cowboy had held her arm and easily helped her. His touch was surprisingly gentle for such a big and disapproving man.

Right now, the cowboy’s cool blue eyes were nearly ice as they pinned her. Hannah tugged her sweater close against the chill in the room and looked away.

A tiny niggle of excitement churned inside of her. Excitement even Tripp Walker’s less than warm welcome couldn’t dispel.

She’d started over many times in the last seven years, but this was different. For once, she wasn’t hiding or running away from something. No, for the first time in her life she was slipping from the shadows into the light and searching for her future.

And maybe she had found it.

This could very well be her family sitting around the table. Except they all sat on one side while she sat on the other.

She silently prayed for help and grasped for a scripture to cling to. Her grandmother may have been misguided in many ways, but when Hannah was growing up she’d made certain they both were in the pew every Sunday.

Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.

Yes. That would work.

Lucy cleared her throat and smiled. “I have to admit we’re all shocked to find out we have a relative. Travis, Emma and I went into foster care after our parents died because we were told we had no family.” She pushed her short dark cap of hair back and folded her hands on the table.

“Are you related to our mom’s cousin? She’s the one who adopted us,” Emma, the youngest Maxwell, asked.

“I believe I’m related to your father. Jake Maxwell.”

Travis grinned and leaned forward in his chair. “You’re related to Dad? Really? How?”

Hannah hesitated, then met his gaze. “I think Jake Maxwell was my father.”

Travis’s grin faded away at the same instant that Lucy’s jaw sagged. She turned to Emma, whose eyes were round with shock.

The silence in the room was even louder than Hannah expected. She let her gaze slide to Tripp. Stormy blue eyes met hers before he looked away.

Hannah held her hands tightly in her lap and willed her heart to slow down. She tried to relax her clenched jaw. In the last ten minutes, she’d destroyed years of orthodontic alignment.

“Do you have proof? A birth certificate maybe?” Lucy asked.

“My birth certificate says my mother is Anne Bryant and the name of my father is noted as declined.”

The siblings looked at each other. Hannah could practically read their minds. They were doing the math. But she had already done that in Colorado and knew only too well that she was a year younger than Emma.

“I’m confused,” Lucy said.

“Believe me, I am, as well,” Hannah said. “I was born twenty-nine years ago last month. My mother died when I was too young to ask who declined was, and my grandmother wouldn’t discuss my father.” Hannah took a deep breath. “Clementine and I were in Denver for my grandmother’s funeral. Until the reading of the will, I thought she was my only living relative.”

“We’re so sorry for your loss,” Lucy said gently. “We know what it’s like to lose everything. But what led you to think...” She gestured with a hand.

“I inherited a chest of my mother’s things after she passed.” Hannah paused for a calming breath. Again, she reminded herself that she hadn’t done anything wrong. “There was a Bible with photos of my mother and Jake Maxwell tucked inside.”

“Surely there’s more than one Jake Maxwell in all the world,” Lucy said.

“I compared the photos to the Denver Public Library microfiche files with your father’s obituary photo. That’s also what led me to Big Heart Ranch.”

Lucy grimaced and nodded.

“Could we see the photos you have?” Travis asked.

“Yes. Of course. They’re in the trunk of my car.”

The eldest Maxwell’s gaze moved out the window to the pasture of tall grass in the distance. Then she slowly turned back to face Hannah. “I want to be sensitive to you, but this still doesn’t prove that he’s your father.”

Hannah stared down at her tightly clasped hands for moments, recalling the letters she’d read over and over again.

Dearest Anne, you are on my mind constantly...

She raised her head to face the Maxwells. “There are also dated letters from Jake to Anne that indicate a very close relationship.”

Lucy’s face paled as she released a soft, anguished sigh and covered her mouth with a hand.

“I’m sorry,” Hannah murmured.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about,” Travis said. “This has to be as difficult for you as it is for all of us.”

“We could do a DNA test. Couldn’t we?” Emma asked while looking at Jack Harris for a response.

The attorney reached out to hold Lucy’s hand. “Sure, but as I recall, without paternal or maternal DNA, the results won’t be absolutely conclusive, though they will show if you’re family.”

“I think we should talk to a lab and find out how to proceed,” Emma returned.

“This is a lot to take in, Em,” Lucy said. “That Dad had a relationship outside of his marriage.”

“Four years before they died,” Travis murmured.

Emma turned to her siblings. “We can’t begin to presume to interpret the past. I don’t think we should even try. I say we deal with facts. Hannah is here and for her peace of mind and ours we should find out if we are indeed family.” She offered Hannah a sad smile.

Travis, too, offered a sympathetic nod. “All of our lives are affected if it’s true.”

Lucy met Hannah’s gaze. “I have to be clear. The ranch is a charity. The land was given to us by our mother’s cousin. The woman who adopted us. Big Heart Ranch is a sanctuary for orphaned, abused and neglected children. This ranch is our life mission, but we have no inheritance. Nothing.”

Hannah’s gut clenched at the words. Inheritance? If only they knew she’d already walked away from one. What she longed for was to find her place in this world.

“I’m here for the same answers you want,” Hannah murmured. “Period.”

Once again, an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

“Where are you staying?” Lucy asked.

“I saw a motel on the way in.”

“The Rooster Motel?” A horrified look crossed Lucy’s face. “Oh, you don’t want to stay there. We have a nice bed-and-breakfast in Timber.”

“That’s not really in our budget, but thank you,” Hannah said without looking at any of them.

“Well then, I’d like to invite you to stay at Big Heart Ranch, at the very least until we can figure all of this out,” Lucy said while she looked to her siblings for confirmation.

Hannah held her head high. “I don’t do charity.”

“Of course not. We can always use help on the ranch,” Emma said.

“What about Clementine?” Hannah asked.

“There is a licensed daycare at the ranch now,” Lucy said. “How old is she?”

“Clementine is five. Almost six.”

“It’s May. Isn’t she enrolled in school?” Emma asked.

“We’ve moved around a lot,” Hannah said. There was no point sharing further details. Her past had nothing to do with the Maxwells other than when it intersected with theirs.

Emma frowned. “I handle childcare at the ranch and I can tell you that kindergarten is mandatory in Oklahoma.”

“It’s not in Texas, Kansas and Missouri.”

“You certainly have traveled,” Emma murmured.

Traveled. Hannah nearly laughed out loud. Not quite. She had been running from her grandmother’s reach for nearly seven years. Staying one step ahead of the wealthy woman who insinuated that she could take Clementine away from Hannah if she so desired.

“I’m sure we have some area you could contribute to on Big Heart Ranch.”

“What’s your background?” Lucy asked.

“Recently, I’ve been a bookkeeper, cashier and mostly a cook.”

“All useful skills.” Travis shook his head. “Can you ride?”

“Yes, absolutely. I have an extensive background with horses. I’ve been riding since I was a kid. I worked in children’s camps and equine clinics when I was a teenager and in college.” Hannah paused and swallowed. “However, there’s something you should know.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I’m pregnant.” Hannah sat straight and proudly. Yes, she was a single mother whose husband had left her not once, but twice. But she refused to give in to the whispers of shame fueled by her grandmother that had dogged her for the past seven years.

“Congratulations,” Travis said. He grinned like a preening peacock as he put his arm around his wife. “AJ and I have a baby due in August.” He glanced over at Emma. “And Emma and Zach are expecting a baby in December.”

“That’s wonderful,” Hannah said.

Emma chimed in, “When is your baby due?”

“Late December.”

“Congratulations,” Emma added, her face lighting up with genuine pleasure. “Oh, my, we’re due at the same time.”

“I’ll add my congratulations, too,” Lucy said. “As you can see, we love babies around here. Your...um, partner is with you in Oklahoma?”

“I’m recently divorced.” She cleared her throat and once again focused on her hands, running her thumb over a ragged hangnail. Recently divorced because once he’d found out she wasn’t going to be a wealthy woman, he’d walked away.