How to Wrangle a Cowboy (45 page)

“Cody…” Shane didn’t know what to say. He knew he should admonish the boy. Manipulating people like that was wrong. Riding in the bed of a pickup was dangerous. And leaving the house without permission was forbidden.

But the boy had done it for
him
. For him and for Lindsey. For the dream of a family with a mother and a father.

Shane understood that dream. He’d given up on it long ago, but he’d resurrected it lately, hoping he could make it come true for his son.

Of course, he’d screwed up so badly that the dream was in tatters. Hell, without Cody on his side, he would have screwed up his relationship with Lindsey before it had even started. Sometimes he thought she only kept him around because she’d fallen for his son.

How had he ever thought, even for a moment, that she wasn’t the kind of woman he wanted? The kind he needed?

He turned his attention back to Cody.

“She parked here, and I waited and waited,” the boy continued. “But she didn’t come back. I snuck up to the house and peeked in. She wasn’t with Mr. Brockman, but I saw a little teensy bit of light at a basement window, so I looked through there. She was videoing the dogs.” Cody’s face fell. “Those poor puppies, Dad. I can’t believe Stormy came from such a terrible place and is still such a nice dog. I wonder how he can trust us after being treated so bad.”

Shane almost laughed aloud. The little dog he’d scorned as useless had a bigger heart and a more forgiving soul than Shane himself.

“I saw Mr. Brockman come out with a flashlight, but I ducked down behind the shrubbery and he didn’t see me. When he opened the hatch, I was scared, but I figured he’d just yell at Lindsey.” His tears had dried as he’d spoken, leaving trails of clean skin through the grime on his face, but now they began afresh. “I thought he was just going to yell at her again, but he hit her, Dad! Right on the head!”

Cody touched the back of his head as if he’d been hit himself. His eyes gleamed with unshed tears.

“I shoulda saved her, but I didn’t know how.” His voice broke on a wail. “I’m not big enough.”

Shane stroked the boy’s hair, pulling him close. “You did the right thing, Son. You couldn’t have helped. He might have hurt you too.”

“I know. So I hid in the bushes and thought what I could do, but then you came, and Ozzie.”

“How do you know Ozzie?”

“I went with Lindsey sometimes, remember? To the trailer park. And I met all these guys, and their cats and dogs. They’re really nice people, Dad. They only look scary because they’re poor. Not like Mr. Brockman.” Cody shuddered. “He looks scary because he’s mean. But the way Ozzie looks at Lindsey? It’s the same way
you
look at her. I think he’s in love with her too. So I knew she’d be okay with
both
of you there.”

The boy stared down at the ground, biting his lip.

“Lindsey says love makes people stronger, but I think mean people like Mr. Brockman are pretty strong too, ’cause they’re mad all the time. But when Lindsey had
two
people who loved her show up, I knew Mr. Brockman wouldn’t win.”

Just then, a shout went up and the lock picker raised a fist in victory.

“Lockhart?” Ozzie nodded respectfully toward Shane. “You want to open this?”

“Got the right name for it.” The lock picker looked intently into Shane’s eyes. “I can pick most any lock, if you ever need that kind of help. But a locked heart?” He grinned. “For that, you need somebody like Doc Ward, or maybe your boy there.”

“You’re right.”

Shane had heard that pun before, but for the first time, he felt the truth of it. It was like the lock picker had finally diagnosed the malady he’d lived with all his life. His heart had been locked up tight since childhood, when he’d learned that love led, inevitably, to loss.

Maybe this time, it would be different. Like a timid swimmer testing the water with one dipped toe, he allowed himself a shred of hope that Lindsey would forgive him, that she’d want him to stay.

He turned the knob slowly, unsure what he might find. From what Cody had seen, Lindsey was probably unconscious, and who knew what Brockman might have done to her? He didn’t necessarily want the entire male population of Springtime Acres traipsing down the stairs with him, but he could hardly ask them to stay away. He knew Cody was right, and he wasn’t the only man in love with Lindsey. Most likely they all were.

But this was no time to be timid. Swinging the door open, he started down the stairs.

But his feet wouldn’t work. It was like the stairs had come alive and were moving under his feet. Struggling to catch his balance, he pawed at the wall, hoping to find a railing, a shelf, anything steady he could grab. But there was nothing.

Next thing he knew, he was hurtling down the stairs, ass over elbows, into the smelly dank pit of Brockman’s basement. Puppies yipped and hollered while the coonhounds bayed a mournful accompaniment.

His last thought was that he shouldn’t land too hard or he’d hurt the puppies. Either that, or they’d kill him with a million tiny teeth. But as his head hit the rail he’d been searching for, then clipped the edge of a step, the world went dark and he only hoped the dogs weren’t too terribly hungry.

* * *

Lindsey stood at the top of the stairs, helplessly watching Shane tumble to the bottom. Knowing the hard concrete floor awaited him, she clapped a hand over her mouth and choked back sobs.

She’d tripped him. She hadn’t meant to, but he’d stepped on her arm and when she’d jerked it away, he’d fallen.

One of the coonhounds, barking madly, lunged down the steps and grabbed his pant leg, but it only swung him sideways so he hit his head. He landed in an awkward, splayed position, and lay still as death.

Lindsey hurtled down the stairs behind him, nearly falling in her haste, and knelt beside him.

His handsome face was even more attractive in repose. The hard lines between his eyebrows, the brackets around his mouth, the frown that came so readily—all were softened, and he looked even more handsome than before.

It made her wonder what Shane would be like if he’d had a luckier sort of life, with parents who loved him and a stable home. He might be more forgiving and less dictatorial, more affectionate and willing to trust.

What if love walked into his life right now? Did he still have time to change? She knew from the gossip around town that Cody had softened him up a bit. What if he had a woman who loved him too—one who forgave all his flaws and his grumpy spells, one he could be sure would love him forever? Would he feel safe enough then to let go of his anger and mistrust? Would he be able to return that love?

She hoped so. Because seeing him fall had made her realize that whatever his issues, she couldn’t bear to lose him.

She loved Shane Lockhart, deeply and truly. She wanted him in her life, no matter what. But her life would be a whole lot easier if he loved her back.

Chapter 57

The skinniest and smallest of the adult dogs, a fawn-colored Chihuahua, crept up to Shane’s prone body and sniffed his breath, as if testing for signs of life. The dog was a mess, with a short, spiky coat that reeked of urine and snaggly teeth from inbreeding.

Lindsey braced herself as Shane awoke with a faint moan.

He blinked, then stared at the little dog. When he sucked in a deep, life-giving breath, he recoiled slightly from the smell.

“I know, it’s awful.” She tried to shoo the puppy away, but it only dodged her hand and moved closer. “It’s not his fault though. These dogs are innocent, Shane. Like kids. They didn’t do anything to deserve this terrible life.”

Instead of responding to her, he struggled to sit up. When she tried to help, he shook his head and her heart sank.

Propping himself up against the steps, inch by painful inch, he surprised her by picking up the little Chihuahua, who stared into his eyes as if its wounded heart had fixed on a kindred soul.

Seeing the tiny dog cradled in his strong, square hands made Lindsey’s eyes tear up. Once, she’d thought she’d feel those hands on her body every night, wake to those gentle dark eyes every morning. Now, though…who knew?

“We can name him Templeton,” Shane said.

“We?” She regretted the question the moment she’d asked it. He meant himself and Cody, of course.

But he nodded gravely. “We.”

Lindsey looked right, then left. Cody had moved across the room, where he was cradling a long-haired dachshund. The only people nearby were Ozzie, and a couple other guys from the trailer park. They shrugged and splayed their hands.

“He’s not talkin’ about us. We like the guy an’ all, but we ain’t reached the point where we’ll share a yapper dog with him.”

Shane, still cradling the dog against his chest as if it might break, reached up and grabbed the stair railing with one hand. Slowly, he hauled himself to his feet and reached for the bank of cages, using them to support his weight while he took one step, then another, until he was walking up and down the racks of cages.

Lindsey had opened the bottom cages earlier, when she’d been crawling around on the floor, but the rest still held their prisoners. Staring into each one, Shane met the eyes of puppies who sat miserably in their own filth. Some rushed at him, teeth bared. Others could barely lift their heads, and some seemed not to notice his presence.

“I didn’t know,” he said over and over. “I didn’t know.”

At a cage full of Maltese puppies, he stopped and unfastened the latch. Still holding the newly christened Templeton, he reached in and set each puppy gently on the floor. When he reached the mother dog, she bared her teeth and growled, but he didn’t hesitate to pick her up. Gently, he passed her to Lindsey.

“This one can’t stand another second.” His gaze was so filled with pain she almost couldn’t bear it. “She’s had too much of the dark. Too much loneliness. Her life—her life is worse than mine ever was, because she doesn’t understand. She can’t make excuses for Brockman. She can’t hope for a better future.”

Lindsey cradled the dog against her chest, facing Shane, and it was as if they were the only two people in the room.

“All she can do is endure,” he said. “I never thought of that before.”

Lindsey nodded. Shane was right. For dogs, there was no future, no hope—only the now. And if the present was unbearable, they simply endured it.

He understood. He really understood.

Grace had been right. Scars weren’t always a bad thing. They allowed you to understand the pain of others.

Cradling the dog in one hand, she set the other on Shane’s shoulder. He was close, so close. Close enough to kiss.

“I gotta go see a man about a horse,” Ozzie said, turning to the lock picker. “How ’bout you?”

The man put a hand over his pocket, which bore the outline of Ozzie’s Swiss Army knife. “I can’t afford no horse,” the man scoffed. “You can’t either. What you talkin’ about?”

“I gotta
go
, I said.” Ozzie gestured toward Lindsey and Shane. “Right now. You too.”

“Oh, I get it.” The little man winked. “You gotta
go.
Me too.”

“All of us gotta go,” said Ozzie.

“That’s gonna be a problem,” said a man in a Mötley Crüe T-shirt. “There’s only one terlet here, and Brockman’s gone and locked himself inside.”

“Then, we’ll go break into the terlet.” Ozzie grinned. “That ought to be as good as a Bruce Willis movie.”

“Aw, you all go on, then.” The lock picker sat down at the top of the stairs as if he was about to play audience to Shane and Lindsey’s production of
Romeo and Juliet
. “I like love stories better.”

Shane grinned down at Lindsey. “Romantic comedies,” he murmured.

Ozzie reached down and jerked their one-man audience to his feet. “
Now
, doofus! They don’t want you watchin’!”

Slowly, the men filed out, the lock picker grumbling to himself. Lindsey, still staring into Shane’s eyes, was startled when he broke his gaze to call after them.

“Hold up,” he said. “Wait.”

He climbed halfway up the stairs. Was he leaving too? Just like that?

The men turned.

“I want to thank you all for your help,” Shane said. “You’ve done a good thing today, and I owe you.”

The men waved away his thanks, mumbling embarrassed acknowledgments.

“I wondered if you’d help us some more.” He glanced at Lindsey, then back at the men. “All these animals need to be moved over to the Lazy Q. There are kennels in the barn. If there’s not enough room there, go ahead and put ’em anywhere you can find room.”

Lindsey felt her heart swell to twice its normal size as she rose to stand beside him, her shoulder touching his as Templeton and the Maltese cautiously touched noses.

“They’ll need to be fed,” she said. “Anybody know how to get hold of the owner of the feed store? He volunteered to provide kibble for our first two months of operation.”

The lock picker grinned from ear to ear. “I know RaeLynn real well. I’ll go get her.”

“She’ll be in bed,” somebody hollered from the back of the crowd. “And knowin’ RaeLynn, she might not be alone.”

“That’ll just make it more fun,” said the volunteer. “She’s mighty cute when she’s mad.”

Shane smiled at the thought of how surprised RaeLynn would be to have company, then faced the rest of the men.

“There’s going to be a lot of work to be done around the Lazy Q in the next couple of months,” he said. “Any of you that came here tonight has the qualifications I’m looking for. I need men who are loyal, hardworking, and honest, who right a wrong when they see one.” He cleared his throat. “And I need men I can trust to help Lindsey, and who can set a good example for my son. From what I’ve seen today, that’s all of you. Anyone who needs work, come see me on Monday.”

Ozzie turned, flashing his broken teeth in a smile that was oddly angelic. “Well, thanks.” He flushed almost as red as Lindsey’s best blush. “Boss.”

Shane grinned back, then sobered and looked down at Lindsey. “I hope that’s okay. I’m still foreman, I figure, for now, but if you have a problem with that…”