A Cowboy's Heart Read online

  Chapter One

  Behind the wheel of a cherry red 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GT, Emily guided the powerful vehicle down the curvy, country road outside the city limits of Houston, Texas that went in a southeastern direction towards the medium-sized town of Oleander, Texas. She kept her chestnut brown eyes focused on the road before her while several strands of her long hair hung down against the sides of the slightly tanned complexion on her face and her hands gripped onto the leather cover on the steering wheel. Her curvaceous frame kept itself sitting upright in the driver side seat with only a gray tank top and a pair of denim jeans concealing the white push up bra and low rise panties that were the only articles of clothing beneath them that hid her round, firm breasts, and tight ass.

  It shouldn’t be much further now.

  She had been on the road that took her away from the townhouse dwelling that she spent her life in when she is not at work or spending time with her friends for about an hour now. Heading in a direction that was going to lead her to a place she had not been to since she was a child, an overwhelming amount of nervousness and excitement started to consume her thoughts.

  I wonder if things still look the same as they did when I last spent time with my grandmother.

  Memories of her childhood spent with her granny, Belle Withers, flashed before her eyes, filling her entire mind and reminding her of all the wonderful times she had there during her summer breaks from school.

  Now, she worked for a living and was a full grown adult. Well…she was working until the administrator informed her that the position she currently had at the law firm, Jensen and Jacobs, was no longer required without giving any warning or hint to her that she was going to be fired.

  Shifting her attention back to the road, Emily noticed where the large and highly outdated welcome sign to Oleander was sticking in the ground with the green and white paint showing signs of aging from the several years it had been standing out in the open, as well as from the obvious signs of the paint job started to chip away from it, exposing the backboard on which the sign had been created on.

  Here I am…Back in Oleander. Perhaps this is just what I need…Some time to get away from Houston, and get my head cleared before I make any big decisions on what I need to do next.

  She had done the logical and responsible act of paying her landlord for the next two months on the apartment, and turning off her electricity and utilities in order to keep from being billed while she was away. If she was going to spend some of her summer with her grandmother, she didn’t want to be troubled by the thought of owing any bills during the time she was away.

  Emily drove the car she worked hard to afford and pay off onward, entering the historical part of Oleander. She moved her eyes around the place, scanning over the structures where people were going in and out and the roads that went off in different directions to find a similar sight that would spark a memory of some form that would assist her in where she needed to go.

  I know that the road to Granny Belle’s home is around here somewhere…but where is it?

  Her eyes looked away from the tall, historical shops in the downtown district that had been standing for the last hundred years, and focused on a four way intersection she was approaching.

  In the blink of an eye, a flash of her grandmother driving them to that very intersection when she was last there danced across her mind, revealing to her which of the four roads she needed to take in order to reach the ranch.

  She gave a right hand turn signal to the vehicles around her, informing them of her choice in direction. Emily took a brief look at the stoplight, and found it still be green, giving her the ability to head on before it changed. Gripping onto the cover of the steering wheel, her hands made a sharp right turn around the small corner, and proceeded to move down another road in an eastern direction, heading for the hills of Oleander and her grandmother’s home.

  * * *

  Opening up the large doors on Ms. Withers’ barn, John moved inside the tall building with the sunlight of the summer sun streaming in with him, and down the dirt covered aisle that ran between the horse stalls on either side of him, and headed to the far end of it where the horse feed was kept in a container beside a pile of hay that he had left beside it the previous night in order to make it easier on him. His tall, muscular physique strolled at a calm pace and demeanor while his body language and face possessed an overwhelming vibe of authority radiating off of it. A simple white tank top and a pair of denim jeans with signs of some wear and tear to them covered the parts of him that he didn’t want just anyone to see.

  “Morning, ladies.” He said, calling out to the horses that were nestled all around him in the stalls. His deep, southern accent caused several of the horses to perk up while others simply neighed out their greetings to him in their own language. “I am here to satisfy your hunger and fulfill your needs.”

  A charming smile moved across his golden tan complexion that many referred to simply as a ‘Farmer’s Tan’. With his long, black hair tied back in a ponytail and a white cowboy hat on top of his head, John approached where the feed was nestled in a large container, and flipped a small switch on the left side of it, activating the inner workings of the machine.

  Don’t forget to put the bucket underneath the nozzle.

  His conscience screaming at him both reminded him of what needed to be done, and alarmed him at how loudly its tone echoed inside of his mind. Wishing to not anger it further, John reached down to where a large, metal bucket was beside the feed container, and held it under the nozzle that was provided with its large handle in his right hand.

  You don’t have to scream at me like that, you know. He snapped at the part of his brain that had shouted at him with no warning beforehand. Although his voice was not shouting, it had a high amount of frustration in the growl he chose to use to get his own point across. There is no emergency or crisis here…Just horse feed coming out of a machine and falling into a bucket is all that is going on.

  If you don’t have the tools necessary to do the job right when it is happen, you will fail tremendously.

  Must you be a smartass all the time?

  It is not my fault that you don’t have the capacity to think on your own, and make the right decisions yourself, John.

  You’re just being an ass now.

  Comes with the territory of being part of an ass like you.

  He truly despised his conscience sometimes…and this was one of those times. If it wasn’t screaming at him to do the right thing at that very second, it was going out of its way to show how arrogant it could be.

  Mumbling a bit under his breath, John flipped the switch off, and made his way to the first of the stalls. The sight of a cream colored mare poking its head through an opening in its stall brought a smile to his face, and removed most of the influence that the little voice inside his head had on him.

  “Hi there, Snowball.” He said, friendly, as his right hand lifted the bucket to the opening of its stall for its food, and started to pour some of the oats down the chute inside that led to the animal’s troth. “I have something very tasty for you today-“

  While he was pouring Snowball’s oats, the sound of a car pulling up in front of Belle’s ranch style home echoed to his ears, and caught his attention.

  John looked in the direction of the barn’s open doorway, and caught sight of a red 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GT parked out front not far from the barn. His curiosity got the better of him, and caused him to place the bucket containing the horses’ oats down on the dirt floor, and move in the direction of the barn’s open doorway to see who had just parked out in front of Belle’s house.

  Chapter Two

  Stepping out of the vehicle, Emily closed the door behind her once
she was out and in the open. She lifted her eyes up, and gazed upon the home of Belle Withers, her grandmother, with a look of happiness mixed with a feeling of contentment.

  Finally…I am home.

  All of her more negative thoughts slipped away, and were replaced with more positive ones instead due to standing and gazing at the front of her granny’s home, a place that she had spent a large part of her childhood at and experienced many good times at.

  Even though all of my visits were only temporarily here when I was a child as this one is…I have never felt more at home anywhere else in the entire world than here.

  Holding the smile on her face, Emily turned away from the two story, ranch style home that she traveled over an hour to reach, and proceeded towards where the trunk of her car was. Her right hand retrieved the car keys out of one of the pockets of her jeans, and slipped one of them into a keyhole that was located on the top of the trunk.

  Shortly, afterward, a light popping sound of the lid unlocking itself from within echoed out while it opened up to a slight degree.

  She kept a faint smile on her soft complexion while the same hand pulled out the key she had used to unlock it, and tuck it back into one of her pockets. Emily glanced over towards the large barn after she had pushed the trunk’s covering up over her head, and found a sight she had not seen prior to parking her vehicle out in front of her grandmother’s home.

  Standing in the open doorway of the large yet comfortably sized building, a handsome, male stranger stood in plain sight, gazing in her direction with the most piercing set of emerald green eyes she had ever noticed in all of her life.

  Despite the fact that they were about twenty feet from one another, there was no doubt that this…gorgeous specimen of man that stood at the barn’s entrance in a way that made every muscle in her body tighten and burn with such ferocity that for a moment…she felt like her body would burst into flames right where she stood.

  Who…in the hell…is that standing over there?

  It didn’t take very long for her more sensual side to whisper at her with its voice dripping with pure temptation, attempting to lure her thinking over to its side.

  I don’t recall your grandmother mentioning anything about having a hottie living on her property.

  It was only when she noticed him to be flashing a smirk in her direction that she regained control of her body, and turned all of her attention onto the two large suitcases were nestled inside of the formerly closed, rear section of the vehicle, and waiting for her to retrieve them.

  It is none of my business as to why my mom’s mother has some guy on her land.

  Emily did her best to speak in a way that would not only calm her spirits, but, perhaps, quiet the part of her essence that wanted to have full and complete control over her mind, as well as the functions of her body.

  She is a grown woman, and as such, she is entitled to have whoever she wants staying here.

  You are trying to avoid the subject, Emily.

  I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.

  Desperate to keep what little control she had left over herself, she removed the luggage from the trunk of the car, and placed them down on the ground on her sides before the palms of her hands pushed the lid down, and closed it back into place before she moved her gaze down to where the bags were now on the earth beneath her feet.

  There is no reason why I-

  You are attracted to him.

  I beg your pardon?!

  You are attracted to him…Your body is craving for his touch even though you try to fight and ignore-

  “There is my beautiful, Emmy-Andy!”

  The cheerful sound of her grandmother calling out her nickname she gave to her managed to shatter the wall that her sensual part of her mind had been trying to build in order to keep all other influences from breaking its attempt to control all of her functions.

  Turning her attention to the porch, Emily found her grandmother to be coming towards her in a light pink colored, track suit that she had frequented many times when she was a child when she had work to do in the garden behind her home.

  Looks like some old habits are truly hard to break.

  Her smile returned to her face, and released a soft chuckle out of her mouth that had built up inside of it. She moved towards her, and held onto her, tight and warmly. The lids of her eyes closed for a moment while she spoke to her in a soft, caring voice.

  “It is so nice to be here with you, Granny Belle.” Emily spoke with complete honesty, relieving all of the happiness she had inside for her. “I have missed you so much.”

  “I have missed you as well, my sweet Emily.” Belle replied, softly, while she kept her arms around her in a loving embrace. “This is a true pleasure for me to have this summer to spend some much needed time with you.”

  The smile remained on her face as she eased her eyelids open, and looked back in the direction she had been gazing in before her grandmother’s presence.

  Standing in the open doorway of the barn, the mystery man that had caught her attention so quickly turned around, and proceeded to move inside of the building with only a smirk on his face for her eyes and hers alone.

  She kept herself in her grandmother’s embrace as she came to a conclusion about something that she had to do during her time with Belle: She had to find out the identity of the hot man that had caused her body to feel things she had never experienced before in her whole life by just simply locking his gaze on hers and flashing her a seductive yet coy smirk.

  * * *

  John leaned his back against one of the doors that led to an empty stall, and released a rush of air out of his mouth in the form of a pleasurable gasp.

  Oh my god…That beautiful filly with Belle at the moment…is her grand-daughter?!

  He assumed that his employer’s relative that was coming down for the summer was going to look more homely or plain like the other women who live in the countryside, as well as in town. However…He never stopped to think that she would be a highly attractive and curvaceous young woman that sent his body into a state of panic and absolute desire.

  She is quite the beauty, isn’t she? Lusts and temptations started to build up inside of him, and spread throughout every fiber of his body. Didn’t seeing her outside at her car make your blood race, and turn you on, immensely?

  John silently cursed at the part of his mind that was trying to make him cave in to the sensual sensations that were trying to consume every part of him. He wanted to deny what it was whispering to him but there was no way that he could lie to himself at the moment.

  She certainly is an attractive woman. He rebelled against better judgment, and chose to respond to the passionate voices echoing inside of his mind instead of simply ignoring them, and going about his business. There is no point to me standing here, and being dishonest about something that is quite clear.

  I don’t believe you could lie even if you wanted to, John…Especially when it comes to the good-looking guest who has a body that appears to have a body that can go all night-

  I can’t like about how strongly I’m attracted to Belle’s grand-daughter…but if I needed to lie…I am pretty sure that I have the mental capacity to do just that.

  Ha!

  What?

  Don’t make me laugh! John, you couldn’t even tell a little white lie to the last woman you were seeing when she asked you about going out again with her.

  I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by lying to her.

  So…Telling her that you are not attracted to her and that you don’t want to see her anymore was a better decision than to tell her a little white lie?

  The part of his conscience that had power over all of his thoughts and emotions that had to deal with passion, lust, temptation, and desire had a point. He couldn’t even lie to his last girlfriend when she wanted to keep seeing him while he didn’t feel the same way. How could he do it when he couldn’t even tell a small one to keep from hurting someone?

&nbs
p; The soft sound of Belle and her guest walking on the hard, dirty covered road in front of her house caught his attention, and brought him over to the doorway of the barn once more so that he could look outside towards the house.

  Moving beside his boss’s average built yet elderly frame with a suitcase in her hand, Emily walked towards the stairs of the front porch with the other piece of luggage she had in her right hand. A soft, sweet chuckle left her smiling face as she followed Belle’s choice of direction towards the front door.

  She certainly is a fine specimen of woman. John couldn’t stop thinking about her. All of his thoughts were consumed by the angelic laugh coming out of her soft mouth, and the curves on her body that made his hands burn with a need to caress and hold onto. There is nothing about her that I find displeasing to my eye. In fact…She has the ideal body that I look for in a woman.

  His eyes watched Emily turn around, and look at him through a few strands of her hair hanging down in front of her face while Belle was getting the door opened up for them to enter the ranch’s main house. Although a portion of her expression was hidden beneath her soft, auburn hair, John easily could tell that she was trying to hide emotions that were similar to his that had been ravaging his entire essence, and that she was struggling to keep herself composed in the face of him being there. He kept his focus on her sweet face and gorgeous body for a few more moments before she turned her face away, and moved inside of the building with her grandmother leading the way for them both.

  I have a feeling that I will be meeting her very…very soon.

  A sensual smile started to dance across his face as he turned from the opened entranceway to the barn, and proceeded over to where he had set the bucket of oats on the dirt floor.

  Chapter Three

  What is wrong with me?!

  Emily silently screamed at herself for the way she had started at the man that was in the doorway off her grandmother’s horse barn, and gawked at his body as if she were a starving hound gazing upon a meat hanging on a hook in front of it with the juices dripping off of it.