The Criminal Cowboy: Firestone Falls, #6

By Keira K. Barton

Brooklyn Firestone lands a competitive internship at a law firm during her final year of undergraduate study. She's been anticipating the day she can leave Colorado to attend law school back east, and she dreams of finding a brilliant and refined lawyer to marry someday. When a sexy cowboy comes into the firm needing representation for a crime he says he's innocent of, Brooklyn tries not to be interested, but can she tell her heart what to feel?

When a neighboring rancher cuts Wesley Golden's fence line for the third time, he's had enough. Wesley sends the man a scathing letter and informs the police of his actions, hoping that will be enough to deter further malicious acts. When several of his neighbor's prized bulls go missing, he immediately points the finger at Wesley. When charges are brought against him, Wesley seeks counsel from a law firm in town. He never expects to meet the girl of his dreams amidst the nightmare he's dealing with. He only hopes he can convince her of his innocence.

Can Brooklyn see past Wesley's rough exterior and let her heart decide who's right for her? Or will Wesley be unworthy in her eyes because of his pending judgment?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keira K. Barton
• Release date: Jul 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393878551

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Copyright © 2020 by Keira K. Barton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill/EDH Graphics

Edited by Kristina Owings

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing edition 2020.

Brooklyn Firestone lands a competitive internship at a law firm during her final year of undergraduate study. She’s been anticipating the day she can leave Colorado to attend law school back east, and she dreams of finding a brilliant and refined lawyer to marry someday. When a sexy cowboy comes into the firm needing representation for a crime he says he’s innocent of, Brooklyn tries not to be interested, but can she tell her heart what to feel?

When a neighboring rancher cuts Wesley Golden’s fence line for the third time, he’s had enough. Wesley sends the man a scathing letter and informs the police of his actions, hoping that will be enough to deter further malicious acts. When several of his neighbor’s prized bulls go missing, he immediately points the finger at Wesley. When charges are brought against him, Wesley seeks counsel from a law firm in town. He never expects to meet the girl of his dreams amidst the nightmare he’s dealing with. He only hopes he can convince her of his innocence.

Can Brooklyn see past Wesley’s rough exterior and let her heart decide who’s right for her? Or will Wesley be unworthy in her eyes because of his pending judgment?

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For my three daughters. I hope you truly know that you can do anything you put your minds to. You are powerful beyond measure.

Chapter 1

Wesley Golden hated the drive into Hilltop Heights from his ranch that was nearby in Northern Colorado. It was beautiful country, but an hour on the road was time he didn’t have to waste. If he could, he would have everything delivered to his front door, but he didn’t have the money for a service like that. Besides, list making really wasn’t one of his strong suits. He usually just bought whatever looked good in the store. Making a shopping list for someone else was one more hassle he didn’t have time for. Sometimes it was faster to do things himself—even if he didn’t like it.

What he couldn’t do for himself was exactly what brought him into town. Despite his work ethic, he just didn’t have the skills needed to represent himself in a court room. That’s why he was making the loathsome drive. He had to meet with a lawyer to figure out how he was going to get himself out of the pickle he was in.

He carefully parallel parked his big diesel truck between two sleek sedans, suddenly wishing his engine wasn’t so loud. Everyone on the street had stopped to watch him as he tried to park. He was grateful he hadn’t hit the curb as he did so. He didn’t want anyone thinking the redneck in the noisy truck didn’t know how to drive it.

He took off his cowboy hat and set it on the passenger seat, then examined his hair in the rearview mirror. He’d worked outside all morning, and while he’d made sure to put on a clean shirt, there was still a hat line in his hair. Oh well, he thought as he opened the door of his truck and climbed out. He was there to get help, not to impress people.

He was about to close his truck door when he changed his mind and reached back inside. He grabbed his hat and put it back on his head. He didn’t need to hide who he was.

When he made it to the door, his eyes quickly scanned over the gold letters that read Beem and Associates. He pushed the door open and stepped into the waiting area. He looked around at the elegant wood-paneled walls and the leather chairs, and immediately knew the folks who worked there were much fancier than he was. He felt like he was in a millionaire’s billiard room, but without any billiard. He hoped all that nice décor meant that the lawyer he was meeting was paid a lot of money for a reason and would defend him well.

There were two young women sitting next to each other in the waiting area. One had shoulder-length blond hair and was talking animatedly to a man sitting next to her. The other had long dark brown, almost black, hair. The brunette was reading a book, but she looked up at him when he stepped through the door. His heart almost stopped when he saw her beautiful blue eyes. He’d never seen a girl who’d literally taken his breath away just by looking at her.

The brunette girl smiled, and he nodded in her direction before turning to face the reception desk. Ignore her. There are lots of pretty girls out there, he told himself. Yet the words didn’t seem to put out the spark of interest that had ignited in his chest.

This was exactly why he hated coming into town. He didn’t need to meet some girl who would cause him to waver in his decision to stay single for the rest of his life. He didn’t need to travel that road again. He’d already let a woman steal his heart, and the only thing he’d gleaned from that experience was a whole lot of misery.

Hello, I’m here for a meeting with Mr. Beem, he said to the receptionist who was sitting at her desk. Her head was down, so all he could see was her curly black hair.

You must be Mr. Golden, she said when she looked up. She had beautiful dark skin, and the biggest smile he’d ever seen. He felt at ease instantly, and returned the warmth she’d shown him with his own smile.

Yes ma’am, I am, he said. It was always nice to have a friendly face greet him when he was in such an unfamiliar place.

I’m so happy you found us, Mr. Golden. Mr. Beem is in another meeting, but he’s strict about sticking to his schedule, so I’m sure he’ll be done in just a min—

As if on cue, the door behind Wesley opened, and he could hear the congenial banter and chuckling of two men. He turned around and saw a tall, well-dressed man in a suit, who looked like he could be the receptionist’s father, talking to another man who was short and stout with a mustache and sleek blond hair.

Wesley watched as the two said their goodbyes, and the shorter man walked toward the door. Have a great day, Mr. Michaels! the receptionist called out.

Mr. Golden! What a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Beem said as he crossed the lobby and extended his hand.

The pleasure’s all mine, Wesley said, taking the man’s hand.

Well, I hope that’s still true when all of this is over. Things shouldn’t progress to that point but going to trial can be very stressful and taxing on a person. We want to prevent that as much as possible. Our aim is to make this a painless experience for you, but I can’t make you any promises. Mr. Beem led Wesley into his private office and shut the door.

Please, sit, the man instructed before Wesley could even respond to his comments about the stress of a trial.

Thank you. This has already been a painful process to be honest, so I don’t expect to come out unscathed. I just want all of this behind me, Wesley explained.

Mr. Beem nodded. I understand fully. We will do our best to bring this to a close as soon as possible. Hopefully, that means we don’t even have to go to trial. Luckily for us, the judge’s docket is pretty open at the moment, so we should be able to get through this fairly quickly.

The first thing I want to do is introduce you to the team who will be assisting with your case. I can’t take credit for all of the amazing work that gets done around here. There will be lots of helping hands as we put your case together. Mr. Beem picked up the receiver of his office phone and buzzed the front desk. Loretta, please send Travis, Brooklyn and Gabby in.

Mr. Beem hung up the phone, folded his hands together, and rested them on top of the desk. After our telephone conversation I took it upon myself to research cases similar to yours. Ideally, we would settle this out of court, but I understand that your neighbor is not interested in a settlement at all, is that right?

Wesley nodded. Yessir. I don’t think he’s worried about the money he claims he’s lost. He just wants to see a guilty verdict slapped on me.

Well, we will do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen. I believe you when you say you didn’t do this, but I want you to retell your story to the whole team so they can hear it straight from you, Mr. Beem said.

No problem, Wesley agreed. He knew he was innocent, so he’d tell anyone who asked exactly what happened.

There was a light knock on the door, and after Mr. Beem gave the go ahead, it opened. The first person to enter was a young man who looked to be between twenty-five and thirty-years-old.

Travis, this is Wesley Golden, our new client, Mr. Beem said.

Nice to meet you, Mr. Golden, Travis said as he stepped to the side to allow the other two people behind him to enter.

Wesley stood. Oh, please, call me Wes.

He had to swallow hard to keep from sputtering over his name when he saw that the next person to walk in was the brunette girl he’d seen in the waiting area.

Are you all right? the blonde girl who was following the brunette asked him.

Wesley started to cough, and his eyes were watering as he tried with everything he had to stop. He cleared his throat.