Cowboys Mine Read online

  Evernight Publishing

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2014 Stacey Espino

  ISBN: 978-1-77130-700-0

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: JS Cook

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

  —Kahlil Gibran

  COWBOYS MINE

  Stacey Espino

  Copyright © 2014

  Prologue

  12 years earlier

  Eva glanced at the clock on her night side table with heavy eyes. It was well past midnight, the gentle cast of moonlight giving her bedroom a wash of grey. A strip of light from under the door caught her attention—and then the yelling from downstairs.

  She crept from her room, wincing when the hinges on her door whined. There were two voices—one was her father, the other Colton McReed from the next ranch over. What was he doing at their house at this ungodly hour? She pressed her body against the wooden rails of the stairwell, where she could get a glimpse of the kitchen below. Darkness shrouded her on the second level, the cool hardwood chilling her bare thigh.

  “What do you have to say for yourself, Colton?” Her father’s voice was controlled but she recognized the serious edge to his tone. It was the same voice he used when he caught her lying or skipping out on her chores.

  “What?”

  “You broke the windows in my tool shed, and you’re going to pay for them.”

  Eva gasped when she heard the accusation. Colton was fourteen, four years older than her. She worried that her father might give him a whooping.

  “Well, I ain’t! What are you gonna do about it? Hit me?”

  “You’re drunk. Come morning you’ll work off your debt on my land,” her father said matter-of-factly.

  “I don’t care about any debt. And I sure as hell don’t care about you or your land!” Colton was belligerent and loud enough to wake the dead. She hoped her mother didn’t catch her spying on something Eva knew was none of her business. When she caught movement at the edge of the kitchen, she realized Colton had shoved her father. She gasped aloud and then slapped her hand over her mouth. Her heart raced as she tried to get a better look.

  “I know about your daddy, son. Everything will be okay.”

  This comment appeared to enrage Colt. She heard the wooden chairs topple over, and then violent shoving and harsh grunting ensued. “You don’t know anything!”

  Her father had to tackle him and hold him down on the floor, but he continued to try and throw punches. Colton may still be a kid but he was as big as her father at fourteen. From where his face was pressed to the laminate, she swore he looked straight up at her, even though she knew she was concealed in the dark shadows.

  “It ain’t your fault.” She wasn’t sure what was happening, but her father’s voice held a note of sympathetic understanding despite the circumstance.

  “I hate you! I hate you!”

  “Everything will be okay,” her father repeated, holding down his thrashing body.

  Colton struggled like a mad man, throwing out curses that rang her ears, but her father held him still. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he lost his steam and began to cry.

  She’d never seen a man cry before, not her father, Colton, or his twin brother. It took her by surprise. Colton wept in deep, desperate waves, as if he’d lost his very soul. Her dad shifted his weight off Colt’s back and pulled him into an embrace as they both sat on the kitchen floor. He held Colt’s head to his chest and let him cry, not saying a word.

  It wasn’t until years later that she learned it was the night Jess McReed ran out on his family.

  Chapter One

  Present Day

  Colton reached across the table for another tea biscuit. Eva’s mother swatted his hand as he pulled back, but he only laughed before settling in his seat. His spurs chimed and leather chaps creaked as he adjusted his chair.

  “You realize you have a home, Colton McReed,” her mother said in mock irritation.

  “Yes, ma’am, but you know how much I love your cooking.”

  “You can leave some for the rest of us for God’s sake,” North grumbled as he forked scrambled eggs into his mouth.

  “Watch your mouth, young man.” Her mother scolded him despite the fact he was twenty-six and twice her size. But Colton and North McReed were like part of the family. Eva barely noticed their presence because they were as natural in her life as her own reflection.

  “Sorry, ma’am.”

  Everyone continued to eat in comfortable silence after her mother returned to the sink to tend the dishes. Her father was already out on the fields, tilling the land he’d harvested last week. All Eva could think about was the trip she’d be making in a few days. Her nerves were rattled considering the long drive and unexpected variables that could come up. She’d be entering her two cows in a competition at the annual rodeo in Chester. The prize was fifteen hundred dollars, and any extra money was welcome on a working farm. It was a chance to make her father proud and prove to him she wasn’t a little girl any more, but a capable twenty-two year old woman.

  It was a two hour drive to the rodeo, located in one of the larger cities to attract tourists. Eva had never been out of her hometown. All she knew was farming and her small circle of friends and family. Thinking of the trip both excited and terrified her.

  “You tell the boys about your entries?” asked her mother without turning her back. The clang of pots and pans was the only sound left in the kitchen.

  Eva gritted her teeth, wishing her mom hadn’t mentioned the trip. Colt was frozen in place, his fork half way to his mouth. North had already pushed his plate away and sat straighter, both hands braced on the edge of the table. The McReed brothers were like overbearing watchdogs, convinced it was their right to approve of every move she made.

  “No, it never came up.” She quickly gathered her dishes and cleaned her spot, eager to put as much distance between her and the house as possible. From her peripheral vision, she could see their attention was still fixated on her.

  “What entry?” asked North.

  She sighed dramatically. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” Then she grabbed her sweater off the coat tree by the side door and slipped out. The air had a note of coolness in it now that summer was nearly at an end. She had a million things to do—mucking out, cleaning the chicken coop, and putting up the storm windows in preparation for the fall season. First she had to feed the dogs.

  “Hey, little miss. You didn’t answer me.” North’s deep voice was followed by the smack of the screen door falling back into place. She kept walking.

  Eva crouched low in the spare stall where they kept the dog food and began scooping it into the metal bowls. A moment later, North’s large shadow blocked out the light from the bay doors.

  “Go away, I’m busy.” She knew he wouldn’t leave her alone until he knew every detail of her trip. Part of her enjoyed tormenting the brothers. The Lord knows they’d done enough of it to her over the years. They’d dressed one of the pigs in her favorite dress for Halloween, filled her boots with manure, and trapped her in the hayloft without a ladder. Although they weren’t annoying teens any more, she still thought of them as oversized terrors.

  “It’s cute t
hat you think I won’t find out what you’re up to.” North leaned against the side of the stall, buttoning up his checkered jacket.

  When she heard the sound of spurs echoing in the center of the barn, Eva knew she was outnumbered. She dropped the feed scoop into the bag and pushed past North. “Colt, tell North to leave me alone. I have too many things to get done without entertaining him.”

  Colton wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush to his body, giving her a friendly kiss on the forehead. “We’ll both leave you be after you fill us in on your entry. I know it wouldn’t have anything to do with the rodeo in Chester, now would it?”

  She rolled her eyes and let out the breath she held. “I’m entering Bessie and Ruby. The grand prize is fifteen hundred dollars.”

  Colton shook his head. She looked up into his blue eyes, but they were already narrowed and set. “How do you plan to get there? Your daddy taking you?”

  Eva shifted out of his embrace. “I’m going alone. I’m a grown woman, not a child. And I think I’m quite capable of carting two cows in a trailer. I do it all the time.”

  “Not in the city, you don’t,” North corrected. “Don’t you realize the trouble you could get into in a place like that?”

  “I don’t plan on getting into any trouble.”

  “The cowboys that flock to those places are not the type you’re used to, Eva. Scam artists and predators are common place at the big rodeos. They’ll eat you alive.” Colton adjusted his Stetson as he countered her steps.

  “Promise I’ll be careful,” she said dismissively. “Don’t you two have a herd of cattle to bring in?”

  She saw his jaw twitch but he didn’t argue with her. Both men watched her until she returned to the stall to grab the bowls of kibble. By the time she stepped back out, they were gone. She sighed in relief, surprised they’d actually listened to her. Eva was another step closer to her new adventure.

  ****

  “I ain’t letting her go,” said North. He knelt on one knee in front of the airtight fireplace, blowing at the embers.

  “She’s got her mind set.”

  “Don’t care.” North added some kindling to the growing flames. The evenings could get bitterly cold now. It was time to start building their wood stock pile out back. Their mother already had most of the tomatoes and apples jarred and stored in the cold cellar.

  It was hard getting their own work done when they offered to help Mr. Ford with his cattle and other odd jobs, but he was more than a neighbor, and saying “no” was never an option.

  “Tomorrow we’ll talk with Ford. We’ll make him see the danger of letting her go to Chester alone,” said Colton. His brother lounged on the sofa, watching the leaves blow across the front of the picture window. The sun was half set, the sky matching the fall scenery—a mix of oranges and reds. They had no television, and they were both too tired to hit the bar most nights.

  “That’s right. By the time I’m finished filling him in, he won’t let her pass town limits.”

  Colton shrugged one shoulder in nonchalance. “She’ll kill us for interfering.”

  “Better than the alternative,” he assured. After carefully inserting two good sized logs into the fireplace, he closed and secured the iron door and rose to his feet. “It’s for her own damn good.”

  “She’s twenty-two now, North. How long you gonna baby her?”

  He scowled at his twin. “So you’re okay with her heading to Chester alone? God knows what trouble she could get into. An innocent farm girl around all those seasoned sharks?” North chuckled without humor. “Fuck that.”

  North headed down the hall toward his room, hesitantly stopping at the first door. He rested his hand on the knob for several moments before turning. Some days he didn’t want to care, wanted to be so numb he didn’t give a fuck about anything—but those were just passing temptations. He took a cleansing breath and then slowly opened the door. The light from the hallway filtered in so he could see the body-shaped lump under the blankets. Once he saw the gentle rise and fall, he let the door gently click shut again.

  It was bad enough half the town looked down at them, referring to them as trash or bastards, but the whispers about their mother made it intolerable. He blamed everything on their father, the violent drunk who did them the favor of abandoning them without a dollar or a memory worth keeping. The only family they had nearby was their Aunt Laura. She knew about their mother’s condition and continually offered to get her help. But their mother wasn’t ready to accept she had a problem.

  He continued on to the last room, kicking the door shut once he entered. Anger welled up inside him. More than that. He was frustrated and torn. He rammed his fist into his closet door, savoring the sting on his knuckles as he broke through the paneling. North unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his flannel shirt. He stood in front of his dresser, staring at himself in the mirror for a long while—hating what he saw. While Colt had dirty-blond hair and blue eyes like their mother, North’s hair was as dark as his eyes. If they weren’t twins, nobody would believe they were brothers. He didn’t give two shits about his appearance. He just hated the fact that the image reflecting back haunted him, a constant reminder of a man he’d rather forget. The man who’d taken everything from them.

  North tossed his shirt so it landed on the edge of the mirror, blocking the unwanted image from view. He dropped down on the bed, the mattress protesting until it finally settled. There was something about autumn that made him feel more lost than he normally did. Everything was grey and dying, and more time was spent indoors rather than keeping busy with his hands.

  He stirred for a while before finally giving up and bolting back to his feet. North paced his room, his mind drifting to everything unsavory. It would be so easy to forget his troubles with the help of cheap whiskey or the adrenaline that came from a good bar fight. Too easy. In the end, he slipped a padded jacket on over his bare skin and left the house. The wind and shadows swirled around him as he walked to the barn. He didn’t bother with a saddle at his hour, just bridled and mounted his gelding before galloping off to the white brick house across the soy fields. Eva was a beacon of light in his dark, empty world. He may claim to be the one looking out for the Ford girl, but in truth, he’d be broken without her.

  He eased the horse to a walk when he neared the house. A warm glow emanated from the windows, and he imagined Mr. and Mrs. Ford sitting by the fire with mugs of hot cocoa. The grandfather clock would be ticking rhythmically, the small Shih Tzu curled up on the carpet, and there would be a sense of love and security that was nearly palpable. He felt like a nobody, an outsider looking in from the darkness, but rather than retreating, he prodded his horse to the rear of the house and dismounted.

  North had planned to toss a small pebble at Eva’s second story window, but his plan was foiled when he nearly crashed into Colt. “What the hell are you doing here?” his brother asked.

  “Me? Last I saw you were falling asleep on the sofa. How’d you get here before me?”

  They grumbled their joint displeasure, both looking up at Eva’s window. “Well?”

  “Well what? You gonna let her know we’re here?” North tugged his jacket tighter to keep out the chill.

  “She could still be pissed. You ready for a tongue-lashing?”

  “You’re afraid of Eva now? She’s a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet.”

  Colt shoved him and started to climb up the metal antenna until in front of Eva’s window. He rapped softly on the glass until she slid it up. “What are you doing here? And you?” She pointed accusingly down at North.

  “Come on, it’s cold, let us in,” Colt pleaded.

  “Why should I?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You both take me for a child.”

  “Forget today, darlin’.” Colt slid into her room head first, his boots shifting high as he toppled over the windowsill like an oversized sack of potatoes.

  North climbed the same antenna and joined them. It was warm in he
r bedroom, a welcome contrast to the frigid night air. Eva’s room always felt so small and delicate, like standing in a doll’s house. The walls were painted pink and she had several shelves of teddy bears and trinkets, all staring back at him. If he moved the wrong way, it would spell disaster. He heard the muted laughter from Eva’s parents downstairs.

  Colt crashed unceremoniously onto Eva’s bed, the lush bedding enveloping him. He chuckled and rolled to his back, hugging one of her floral pillows. The only time he saw his brother happy was when they visited the Fords. Home was another story.

  “Will you stop messing my bed, Colt. You’re too big for your own good.” Eva struggled to shove his legs aside so she could sit. But Colt reached up and tugged Eva down alongside him, her back pressed to his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, whispering something in her ear until she giggled.

  North strolled around the room, examining Eva’s prized possessions he’d seen a thousand times—the little pink elephant and her baby shoes mounted on an ivory plaque. Everything was so familiar, so comfortable.

  “What’s wrong with you, North? Come here.”

  He shrugged off his jacket, forgetting he had nothing on underneath. “Shuffle over,” he said. When they’d made room for him, he settled in beside Eva, staring up at the ceiling and the small tin stars dangling down.

  “You’re sad again. Why?” she asked, her arm draping around his chest.

  He shrugged.

  Colt lifted his head. “She say something to you?”

  “No, she’s passed out good.”

  “You checked she was okay?”

  “I checked, dammit!” His body tensed. “Can we not talk about her?”

  Eva kissed his shoulder, holding him tighter. He closed his eyes and absorbed her goodness. “Is your mom sick?” she asked.