The Bull Rider’s Return Read online

  “It’s for the boy.” Cody put on his sheepskin jacket. “Better grab it before your jerk-face boss sees it and claims his share. Good luck.” Clapping his Stetson on his head, he strode toward the exit.

  Kelly snatched up the envelope and hurried after him. “You’re not thinking clearly. I know how addled a brain can get after staying up all night. If you don’t take it back, you’ll regret it later.”

  “What I would regret is not doing something to help your little boy when I had it in my power.” A wistful, almost yearning look flickered across his weary face, then vanished in a cynical hardening of his jaw. “Better Ricky benefits than I blow my winnings on Jack, women and poker.”

  “It’s too much,” Kelly insisted. “He’s not your responsibility.”

  He glanced past her and his face softened again. “Ricky needs you, darlin’. Take care of your son.”

  She spun around to see Mr. Wilson heading toward Ricky with a black scowl on his face. “Ricky, come here,” she almost shrieked, desperate to put herself between her child and her boss.

  Ricky ran to her, dragging his unrolled sleeping bag, his backpack bouncing. The exertion left him breathless and doubled over. Stuffing the envelope into her pocket she picked him up—he was so light, underweight for his age—and carried him out of the diner just in time to see Cody drive off in a red pickup truck. He was moving too fast for her to catch the license number but she recognized the distinctive map outline of Montana.

  Frustrated, she stopped short. Damn and bless him.

  She got Ricky into the car and made sure he was comfortable, her mind already formulating a plan. Cody had given her the money on a whim but she knew his first name and the town where he lived. She could find out more online. She would track him down and insist he take it back.

  In the driver’s seat, she glanced at Ricky’s face in the rearview mirror, pale and wan, and her resolve wavered. Her little boy needed help so badly. Remembering the odd look that had crossed Cody’s face, she suspected he had his own reasons for giving it to her, reasons that had nothing to do with her or Ricky. She doubted anything she could say or do would make him take the money back.

  Locking all the doors, she looked around to make sure no one was near. Then she pulled out the envelope and started counting. By the time she got to the last hundred-dollar bill she was as breathless as Ricky. Sixty-five thousand dollars. It was a fortune. Ricky could have his operation, she could pay her medical bills and have enough left to tide her over till she got another job. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “It’s okay, Mom,” Ricky said, hiding his own anxiety. “You’ll get another job.”

  Kelly wiped her eyes. She’d forgotten he could see her in the rearview mirror, too. “Everything is fine, honey. I hated this diner anyway.”

  “Cody sure was nice, wasn’t he, Mom?” Ricky held up his hand and showed her a smooth green stone, a perfect oval. “Look, he gave me his lucky rock.”

  Take care of your son.

  Cody, a complete stranger, had not only tapped into her deepest need, he’d also given her the means to fulfill it. The future opened up like sun breaking through dark clouds. “He’s an angel.”

  Chapter Two

  “Anyone home?” Cody called, coming through the front door of his parents’ big log house in Sweetheart. The sounds of conversation and clinking cutlery came to him from the dining room. He lived downstairs in a self-contained suite but every Sunday evening the family gathered for his mom’s famous roast dinner.

  “Cody, is that you?” Linda Starr came around the corner to give him a hug, her blue eyes filled with pleasure at seeing him. “Congratulations! We heard you won the bull-riding event in Reno.”

  “Thanks. It was pretty cool.” Cody planted a kiss on top of her blonde head and slung his arm around her shoulders as they walked back into the dining room.

  “We just sat down a minute ago,” Linda went on. “I set you a place. Come in, everyone’s here.”

  Everyone included his dad Robert; his brother Will and Will’s wife Mia with their little boy Billy; his half-brother Alex and his wife Emma with their tiny daughter Anya; and Cody’s other brother, Garret who, like him, was single.

  This spring, Cody had helped his father and brothers tear out the wall between the dining room and the kitchen and make a larger space to accommodate the growing extended family. The more the merrier had always been the Starr family motto.

  “Hey, all.” Cody squeezed in between Garret and Emma and reached for the platter of chicken. “What’s everyone been up to? Will, how is the cherry orchard looking this year? Garret, are you dragging society princesses up the mountain yet?”

  Will, fair-haired like their mother, managed the family cherry orchard with help from Alex who was a marketing guru. Robert, who had passed his dark coloring on to Alex, Garret and Cody, spent most of his time at his real estate office these days. Garret worked for the orchard part time as a mechanical engineer but in the last year he’d grown restless and had started a fledgling wilderness adventure business.

  “Never mind about us,” Will replied, handing him the potatoes. “How about that win? You hit the jackpot with that prize money.”

  “Sure did,” Cody agreed. He’d spent half the long drive home berating himself for being so idiotic as to leave a small fortune to a complete—albeit well-deserving—stranger, and the other half of the trip bathed in warm fuzzy feelings because now that brave little boy would get his heart fixed. And he had to admit, he was a sucker for a pretty blonde with a sassy smile and cute-as-a-bug dimples.

  “What are you going to do with the money?” his dad asked. “A nice three-bedroom rancher just came on the market on the north side of town. You should have enough for a deposit.”

  “Invest in shares,” Alex advised, passing Cody the green beans. “It’s never too early to start building your portfolio.”

  “Virtual currency is hot right now,” Garret said. “You could double your money in a week with Bitcoin.”

  “Or lose it all,” Linda added dryly. “Pay off your credit card,” she told Cody. “Establish a credit rating for when you want to borrow.”

  “Knowing Cody, the money is burning a hole in his pocket.” Emma grinned and tossed her long red braid over her shoulder. An old family friend, she’d grown up across the road and considered it her right to tease him unmercifully as the little brother she’d never had.

  “Probably already spent half of it on booze and women,” Will agreed.

  “And the other half gambling or bailing himself out of jail,” Garret chimed in.

  “You guys know me too well.” Cody’s good-natured grin hid how much their comments rankled even though they were right.

  He could hardly blame them for not giving him credit. His older brothers were all straight arrows and high achievers whereas he’d always been the wild child. The saying ‘there’s one in every family’ could have been written about him. He’d dropped out of high school and hadn’t done any extra training beyond what he learned on the job at the bull-breeding ranch. He gambled away more of his winnings than he put in his savings account. He’d spent more nights in the lockup for being drunk and disorderly than he cared to admit. And as for his speeding tickets…

  Ah, so what? He had fun. He’d only done one thing in his life that he felt truly ashamed of and that was so long ago that he couldn’t make amends.

  While Cody tucked into roast chicken and potatoes, his parents, brothers and their wives continued to discuss his prospects as if he wasn’t there, speculating as to whether he would do something worthwhile with the money or blow it all. Any moment now, they’d be taking bets.

  What would they think if he told them he’d given his entire prize money plus casino winnings to a woman he’d known for half an hour? To say his action was out of character was an understatement. On the other hand, they might consider it typically irresponsible behavior. Easy come, easy go. They might even think he’d done it to score points with
the waitress. Kelly’s laughing blue eyes and dimpled smile flashed before him. He wouldn’t mind scoring with her… But that wasn’t why he’d done it.

  His family might not think very highly of him but they loved him, he knew that. His father refused to bail him out of any trouble he got into but he always welcomed him home with open arms. His brothers regularly gave him grief in an attempt to keep him in line but they stood up for him when others condemned. His mom believed he just needed to grow up. Maybe she was right. He was twenty-six now. According to science, his brain was officially mature.

  Except that his brain didn’t always operate in the approved fashion. Giving away sixty-five thousand dollars was clearly generous to a fault. Not to mention impulsive. He never had been able to live up to the family’s high standards so he made an art form out of being the rebel. And hey, why not? He enjoyed his hedonistic lifestyle. If no one had expectations of him then he didn’t have to compete with his high-achieving brothers.

  “Whoa, quiet everyone.” He rose, dispelling his guilty thoughts and the clamoring debate around the dinner table. “The money is gone. All of it. The truth is, I…” He gazed around at his family and saw resigned disillusionment already seeping into their expressions. A hard knot formed in his chest. An edge crept into his voice. “I went to the casino, got drunk and blew it all on the roulette wheel.”

  A heavy silence fell over the dining room. Even knowing him, his family wouldn’t expect him to run through sixty-five thousand dollars in one night. Their disappointment was like a giant weight dragging him down.

  But he’d done the right thing in keeping his gift a secret. If they knew he’d committed an act of philanthropy they might expect him to keep on doing good deeds. He couldn’t maintain that kind of altruism, no way. He didn’t fully understand why he’d done it but he knew for a fact that the act of selflessness in Reno was a one-off.

  “Well, that figures.” Robert put down his napkin. Without another word he got up and left the table.

  “At least you had fun, right?” Garret said half-heartedly.

  More silence.

  Will cleared his throat. “I heard that the ranch where you work needs a new foreman. Have you thought about applying? The money has got to be better than what you’re getting on the rodeo circuit. You don’t get those big wins every week.”

  Cody’s dream was to someday own his own ranch but that dream was so big, he didn’t see how he could ever achieve it. He could work his whole life and never save enough to buy a piece of property that could cost millions of dollars.

  “If I did that, I would have to work every weekend. I wouldn’t be able to go on the circuit,” Cody explained, not for the first time.

  “It would mean a steady paycheck, one you could count on,” Will persisted.

  “I’m not giving up bull riding,” Cody said stubbornly. “Copper Mountain Rodeo is coming up in Marietta.”

  “Maybe you’ll win again,” his mother said brightly. “This time you should have a plan for what you want to do with your winnings and stick to it.”

  Cody’s stomach hurt. “Sure thing, Mom.”

  That night as he lay in bed staring at the shadows on the ceiling, he tried to tell himself it didn’t matter what his family thought. Well, it did but it was too late to tell the truth now. As a little kid he’d been accused of attention-seeking so now he shunned the limelight of any kind. No way did he want his gift to Kelly and Ricky to be tainted by that kind of interpretation. It was only money, anyway, and as his mom said, he could get more.

  He wished he’d gotten Kelly’s phone number so he could find out if Ricky had his operation and hear how the boy was doing. Nah, that was dumb. He needed to forget all about the mom and her son. He’d gotten a kick out of being a fairy godfather but for Kelly’s sake, he needed to stay out of her life. A gift was only a gift if she didn’t feel beholden. The last thing he wanted was to burden her with gratitude.

  *

  Two and a half months later…

  Kelly drove slowly down Main Street, Marietta, trying to take it all in. The town was super cute, with western storefronts and baskets of flowers hanging from the lamp posts. Colorful banners fluttered proclaiming the rodeo coming up in two days’ time. The leaves on the trees were bright green, pretty against the big blue sky. Rising benevolently above the town was Copper Mountain, its jagged peak glinting in the morning sun.

  “Mom, look, there’s a cowboy.” Ricky pointed to a man in a Stetson strolling along the sidewalk in western shirt and chaps and spurs. The boy craned his neck as they passed then slumped back. “He’s not Cody.”

  “The website says there’s a campsite next to the rodeo grounds where a lot of the contestants stay,” Kelly said. “We’ll look for him there after we get something to eat and find a motel.”

  As the months had passed and Ricky recovered from the operation, Kelly found herself wanting more and more to show Cody how his generosity had changed her and her son’s lives for the better. She couldn’t wait to see his astonishment when he saw Ricky now. She wanted to thank him properly and give him the presents they’d brought.

  In their search for Cody, she and Ricky had gone first to the little town of Sweetheart on the shores of Flathead Lake. She’d planned to turn the trip into a short vacation; see Cody and rent a motel room on the lake for a few days. Stopping at a diner, Kelly had shown the waitress a newspaper clipping with his photo from the Reno Gazette about Cody’s win back in June. The waitress, who seemed to know Cody well, told her that Cody was on the road somewhere but she’d heard he was planning on going to the rodeo in Marietta that weekend. Kelly decided to change her plans. A rodeo sounded fun and Ricky would love that even more than fishing. He’d lived all his young life being told he couldn’t do this or that, and she was thrilled to give him the chance to see a live rodeo and to watch his hero riding bulls.

  Spotting a sign reading Main Street Diner she pulled into a parking spot out front.

  Kelly slid into a booth and Ricky sat opposite. The change in her son since his operation was nothing short of amazing. He’d started to fill out and his cheeks glowed with color. She couldn’t believe he would be starting first grade soon. She was a little apprehensive about placing him in the rough and tumble of school but he wanted to go so badly she didn’t have the heart to keep him at home another year.

  A thin, angular waitress of a certain age with a towering beehive came by with a pot of coffee and filled the cup in front of Kelly without asking. Her name tag read ‘Flo.’ “Are you folks ready to order? The western omelet is real good.”

  “I’ll have the omelet,” Kelly said. “Ricky, do you want pancakes?”

  Ricky nodded. “And sausages.”

  “Coming right up.” Flo turned to go.

  “Excuse me a minute…” Kelly brought out her newspaper clipping to show the waitress. “Do you happen to know this guy? His name is Cody Starr.”

  “Sure, everyone knows Cody. He’s at the rodeo every year.” Flo grinned knowingly. “What’s he done now?”

  “Nothing,” Kelly said, a little taken aback by Flo’s response. “Nothing wrong, at least. Last June he had breakfast at the diner in Reno where I used to work. He did us a real good turn. Now my son and I are in the neighborhood so we thought we’d stop and say hello.” She paused. “Why did you ask what he’d done?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, Cody’s a real nice fella.” Flo tucked her pencil into her beehive and cocked a hip, settling in for gossip. “But he’s a little wild. Always getting into some pickle.”

  “Like what?” Kelly hoped it wasn’t anything criminal.

  “Oh, drinking too much and passing out on the courthouse lawn or making out with some other cowboy’s girlfriend. He’s infamous around the rodeo circuits. Kind of got a talent for doing the wrong thing, you might say. And after last year…hoo-wee.”

  Kelly didn’t like gossiping as a rule but she’d just traveled hundreds of miles to see Cody. If she’d made a big mistake
it was better to find out now and leave without seeing him. Ricky would be disappointed but so be it. “What happened last year?”

  “Well…” Flo lowered her voice. “First he kissed the mayor’s wife at the dance on Saturday night and we’re talking a loong, wet kiss with plenty of—” The waitress stopped abruptly with a glance at Ricky who was listening wide-eyed. “Then he got drunk and disorderly and wiped out a mailbox with his truck before stealing a bull from the pen and riding it up the steps of the library.”

  “Seriously? He did all that?” Granted, Kelly had only spent a half hour in Cody’s company but she hadn’t gotten the impression he was a troublemaker. The whole time he’d been in the diner he’d either been concerned about his buddy in the hospital or talking to Ricky. Okay, he’d flirted a little with her but that wasn’t a crime. She glanced at Ricky. The boy was looking confused at this description of his hero’s behavior. Suddenly she hated that Cody had such a bad reputation.

  “My son and I happen to think he’s pretty special,” Kelly said.

  Flo gave Kelly a knowing look. “Naturally, the ladies love him.”

  Kelly’s cheeks heated. She could well imagine women chasing after Cody and she herself had thought about his glinting dark eyes and sexy smile a lot more over the past few months than she would have liked. But she didn’t want the waitress—or anyone—to think she was running after Cody for any reason other than to thank him.

  “That’s not why I’m here,” Kelly said. “Cody didn’t know us from a hole in the wall but he donated his prize money so Ricky could have a heart operation. We came all the way from Reno just to thank him.”

  Flo whistled through her teeth. Then she studied Ricky more closely. “Cody did that? A heart operation would cost a small fortune.”

  “I tried to give the money back to him but he refused to take it,” Kelly said. “Now for the first time in his life, Ricky can do everything all the other little boys take for granted. He can run and play and he doesn’t have to take medication anymore.”