The Right Cowboy

  RIGHTING THE PAST

  When Cole Hawkins left Whitebark, Wyoming, nine years ago, he couldn’t tell a soul the real reason why—not even the love of his life. It had killed him to keep secrets, but he’d made a promise to his father to never share the truth. Now after nearly a decade, Cole is back. And he has every intention of reclaiming Tamsin Rayburn.

  When her family’s ranch is targeted by an arsonist, Cole, working for the local fire department, wants to help catch the culprit. Tamsin has moved on—but she’s conflicted when she sees Cole. Could she consider giving him a second chance? That is, if the truth behind why he left doesn’t break her heart all over again.

  “How long have you been back in Whitebark?”

  Here Tamsin was, asking Cole questions when she’d promised herself she would never show him the slightest interest. Not ever again.

  “I’d been home five days when I was called out on the fire at your father’s ranch.”

  Only five? “Where did you get your firefighter training?”

  “In Boulder while I was in graduate school.”

  Her eyes widened. “So you did both while you were there.”

  “Yes. When I left the ranch nine years ago, I was honoring a promise to my father that was ironclad.”

  “What promise was that?”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about the reason I had to leave. A reason my father wouldn’t let anyone know about. Even on his deathbed he swore me to secrecy.”

  That revelation only deepened her pain. He hadn’t given her an explanation then, and wouldn’t be giving it to her now.

  Dear Reader,

  What is a cowboy?

  He can be a lot of things besides a rodeo star and a rancher. When you read this first book from my Wind River Cowboys series, The Right Cowboy, you’ll be amazed at the depth of Cole Hawkins, a homegrown Wyoming heartthrob who’s not only the quintessential cowboy, but a hero to die for.

  After a lot of years getting my hair done, my hairdresser and I were talking about this and that when she happened to mention she had a brother who was a Wyoming cowboy. As you read this story, you’ll see I went to town picking her brain. Though there’s no resemblance to her real-life brother, some of the things he’s done and accomplished have made their way into my book and I leave it for you to enjoy!

  Rebecca Winters

  THE RIGHT COWBOY

  Rebecca Winters

  Rebecca Winters, whose family of four children has now swelled to include five beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. Living near canyons and high alpine meadows full of wildflowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favorite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her romance novels, because writing is her passion, along with her family and church.

  Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to email her, please visit her website, cleanromances.net.

  Books by Rebecca Winters

  Harlequin Western Romance

  Sapphire Mountain Cowboys

  A Valentine for the Cowboy

  Made for the Rancher

  Cowboy Doctor

  Roping Her Christmas Cowboy

  Lone Star Lawmen

  The Texas Ranger’s Bride

  The Texas Ranger’s Nanny

  The Texas Ranger’s Family

  Her Texas Ranger Hero

  Hitting Rocks Cowboys

  In a Cowboy’s Arms

  A Cowboy’s Heart

  The New Cowboy

  A Montana Cowboy

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  To my darling hairdresser Alicia, who has become a friend and has kept me looking great. (Great as I can look.) The poor thing has had to listen to some of my stories—which she has done with patience—even though she just wanted a simple sentence or two of explanation. Never ask a writer what she’s been working on! If you want to hear some of her brother’s terrific country-and-western music, check out his website: jaredrogerson.com.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Excerpt from Rodeo Legends: Shane by Pamela Britton

  Chapter One

  Tamsin Rayburn pulled in her parking space in front of Ostler Certified Accounting Firm in Whitebark, Wyoming. She was running late to get back to the ranch. Dean would be picking her up for dinner and she needed to hurry.

  With her light chestnut hair swishing against her shoulders, she got out of the car and rushed through the reception area to her office. Her boss would be pleased to know she’d finished auditing the books for Beckstrand Drilling earlier than planned and could start on the Whitebark Hospital audit.

  In her haste, she almost ran into Heather Jennings, a coworker who’d become a close friend over the last two years. It looked like everyone else had gone home. Smiling at her she said, “I’ve never needed a weekend more. How about you?”

  Heather studied her for a moment with an anxious expression. “You don’t know, do you?”

  She was being very mysterious. “Know what?”

  “I’ve been hoping you would walk in here before I left. Now I’m almost afraid to tell you.”

  “Heather—what’s wrong?”

  Her friend drew in a deep breath. “There’s only one way to say this. Today I had lunch with Amy Paskett.” Amy was a girl Tamsin had known from high school who worked at Paskett’s feed store. “It turns out her father waited on Cole Hawkins this morning. Apparently he’s back in Whitebark for good.”

  Tamsin grabbed the edge of her desk while her world whirled for a moment. “Wh-what did you say?” she stammered.

  “I knew this would be hard for you to hear.”

  Cole was home for good? The cowboy who’d left the state nine years ago, riding off with her heart?

  The last time she’d seen him was at a distance when he’d come home for his father’s funeral six months ago. He’d been driving down the street in a friend’s truck, but he hadn’t seen her. Once the funeral was over, he’d left again.

  Shock didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling. “How long has he been here?”

  “I don’t know. That was all Amy said in passing. I’ve been waiting to tell you in case you hadn’t heard. If you hadn’t come, I would have phoned you.”

  Tamsin looked at Heather, still reeling from the incredible news. “Thank you for being such a good friend.” Heather knew some of her past history with Cole, but not all.

  “I’m not sure thanks is the right word.”

  “Yes, it is.” She gave her a hug. “I’m grateful to have heard it from you first. Now at least I’m prepared should someone else tell me.”

  “Look—I’ve got to go, but call me this weekend and we’ll talk.”

  She nodded. “I’ll walk out with you.”

  Tamsin waited while Heather locked up, then she hurried to her car. She was so shaken by what her friend had told her, she trembled all the way to her family’s ranch located two miles south of town.

>   There’d been an article in the Sublette Gazette four months ago about the rodeo legend Cole Hawkins being involved with a country singer from Colorado. It didn’t surprise Tamsin since he was a talented musician and songwriter himself. Maybe he’d married the woman and had brought her home to settle down.

  If he were recently married, how would Tamsin be able to handle it, knowing she’d be seeing them coming and going?

  After he’d left Wyoming, she’d worked through her sorrow day and night for several years to earn enough money to put herself through college. Once she’d finished her schooling, she’d spent the last four years throwing herself into her career as a CPA.

  At twenty-seven she had dreams of opening up her own agency one day, and she’d been dating Dean Witcom, an amazing man. Their relationship had grown serious. Lately she was excited about where it was headed. He’d be a wonderful, devoted husband just like his brother Lyle who adored her sister.

  Yet the mere mention of Cole—let alone that he was home to stay—sent stabbing pain through her as if it were only yesterday he’d said goodbye to her. She couldn’t bear it, not when she’d fought with everything in her power to put his memory behind her. If her sister Sally knew about Cole, she’d kept quiet about it.

  Once Tamsin reached the ranch house, she felt a guilty pang when she saw that Dean’s truck with the Witcom-Dennison Oil Association logo was parked out in front. How could she be thinking about Cole when Dean was here waiting for her? What was wrong with her?

  She drove around the back and rushed inside to find her sister. Sally and her husband, Lyle, who also worked at WDOA, were living temporarily at the ranch. They were probably in the living room talking to Dean while he passed the time until Tamsin got home. No one else was in the house. Their parents were on a vacation in Afton to visit extended family.

  Dean had told her to get dressed up. Tamsin had the suspicion he’d planned something special. She’d been looking forward to it and had bought a new dress, but there was no way she could enjoy an evening with him tonight and pretend nothing was wrong.

  “Sally?” She knocked on their bedroom door in case she was in there. The family’s golden retriever came running up to lick her. “Hey, Duke. Is Sally in there?” She rubbed the dog’s head.

  Her pregnant younger sister opened the door, finishing pulling a loose-fitting top over her maternity jeans. “Tamsin—” She looked surprised to see her.

  “I’m so glad you were in here.” Sally was the one person who knew everything about her heartbreak over Cole and had consoled her through the worst of those early days when she’d thought her life had ended.

  “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Not a ghost.” She hugged her arms to her waist. “Cole’s back.”

  Her sister’s eyes—sky blue like Tamsin’s—narrowed in disbelief. “Come on in.”

  Tamsin stepped past her. Duke rushed in before Sally shut the door behind her. “You actually saw him?” The question revealed that her sister hadn’t known anything, either.

  “I just came from work. Heather told me he’d been seen at Paskett’s feed store this morning. Do you think Lyle knows?”

  “No. Otherwise he would have told me and I would have phoned you.” She put a hand on Tamsin’s arm. “Did you know Dean is here? Lyle’s out in the front room with him.”

  Tamsin nodded. “I saw his truck, but I need time to recover from the shock. Ever since I started seeing your brother-in-law four months ago, I assured him there’d been no other man in my life for a long time. At this point I’m totally involved with him, but Dean’s not going to trust me if he finds out the real reason why I’m so upset tonight. I can’t believe how this news has affected me.”

  “I can. Let’s face it. You never got over him.”

  “Yes, I did!” she defended.

  “Then why has this news caused you to lose all the color in your face?”

  She lowered her head. “You’re exaggerating.”

  “Look in the mirror.”

  “I’m going to be fine.”

  “I hope that’s true. As far as I’m concerned, Cole Hawkins made the biggest mistake of his life by walking away from you. He was a fool and never deserved you. What astounds me is that he still has the power to do this to you after being gone for so long. Don’t let him do this to you.” Her voice shook.

  “You think I want to feel like this? Oh, Sally. What am I going to do? I guess this day had to come and I’ve made too much over it because—because I always wondered what it would be like to see him again. I just need tonight to put everything into perspective. Can you understand?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Dean’s the man I care about now.”

  “I know, and he’s so crazy about you it’s sickening.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You know what I mean. Look. Stay in here. I’ll go out and tell Dean you’ve come home with a migraine and will call him later.”

  “I hate doing this to him, but there’s no way I can hide my reaction right now. I’m afraid it will show and ruin the evening he has planned. I’ll have to sleep on it. In the morning, everything will be all right. I’ll phone him and let him know I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be convincing.”

  Tamsin hugged her sister who was only two years younger. Some people actually thought they were twins. “Thanks, Sally. What would I do without you?”

  “I say that about you all the time. If you hadn’t been there championing me during my barrel racing days when I couldn’t get it together, I don’t know how I would have made it. I’ll be back in a minute and we’ll talk.” Duke followed her out the door.

  * * *

  COLE HAWKINS HAD only been asleep five hours Sunday night when the pager on the side table went off at ten after three in the morning. He shot out of bed and put on jeans and a T-shirt. After grabbing his keys, he hurried to the back porch of the ranch house to pull on his turnout gear. His Ford-350 diesel truck was parked nearby for a quick exit in the warm late-June air.

  He climbed inside and headed for the fire station in Whitebark, three miles away. The small town of thirteen hundred people was nestled at the base of the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains, known as “The Winds” by those who’d been born and raised there like Cole.

  Located in the west-central part of the state, the crest of the magnificent range silhouetted under tonight’s half-moon ran along the Continental Divide. Gannett Peak rose 13,804 feet, the highest in Wyoming. That image of home had been inscribed in Cole’s mind and heart forever, having grounded him during his nine years away.

  During the time he’d been at the University of Colorado in Boulder to complete undergraduate and graduate school, he’d also managed to become a firefighter. After working his tail off, he was finally back in Whitebark, ready to get started on his career, and do something drastic about his aching heart.

  There was only one woman in this world who could fix it. He knew Tamsin didn’t want to see him...not ever. But that was too damn bad because when he’d come home for his father’s funeral six months ago, he’d heard she wasn’t married yet. Now that he was back in Wyoming territory, he planned to stake his claim no matter how long it took.

  More determined than he’d ever been in his life, Cole roared into town and drove around the back of the station to park. Grabbing his helmet, he ran through to the bay and climbed in the tender truck.

  Wyatt Fielding, an old friend who’d done bull riding with him in high school, was driving. They took off with the blare of the siren and lights flashing. This baby held twenty-five hundred gallons of water; an accident could be disastrous. He grinned at Cole.

  “It’s so great to have you back after all this time. I couldn’t believe it the other day when Chief Powell told us you’d signed on with the department here.”


  “Only when I’m available. There’ll be times when I’m up in the mountains working.”

  “Understood. I guess you realize you’re still a rodeo legend around these parts.”

  “So were you.”

  “That’s bull and you know it. I was never good enough to go on the circuit.”

  “Well, those days are over for me, Wyatt. I’m just thankful to be home at last.”

  “You and I have a lot of catching up to do, but we’ll have to do it later. A fire has broken out on the Circle R Ranch. The ladder truck already took off. Captain Durrant is waiting for us.”

  Circle R... “You don’t mean Rayburn’s—”

  “There’s only one Rayburn in Whitebark.”

  Cole’s heart started to thud unmercifully. Tamsin Rayburn, the girl he’d come home for, if she was still living there. A fire had broken out on her family’s ranch? He couldn’t believe it. Maybe he was going to see her sooner than he’d planned, but fear seized him that she could be in danger.

  While Wyatt took the turnoff for the ranch, Cole’s mind relived their history that went back to his senior year in high school when they’d fallen madly in love. But circumstances beyond his control had separated them. She’d stopped returning his letters and phone calls. She’d even changed her phone number.

  When he did visit his father periodically during those years, he knew she wanted nothing to do with him. Until he was home for good, he couldn’t do anything about their situation.

  Cole had only been back in Wyoming five days. His first responsibility lay with his family’s longtime friend and foreman, Sam Speakuna, and his wife, Louise. They were Arapahoes from the Northern Arapahoe reservation who’d come to work for his father early on. Over the years they’d spent part of the time in their apartment on the Hawkins’ ranch, and commuted to Lander where they had a home and could be with their family.

  All the time Cole had been away, those two had shouldered the full responsibility of the ranch house and the crew of two wranglers who handled their herd of forty head of beef cattle. They were like family to him at this point. Now it was time to discuss their future and the future of the Hawkins’ small cattle ranch.