Aaron's Angel: Cowboys of Cauldron Valley, #9

By Kirsten Osbourne

Athena Weston is a free spirit—she lives her life however she sees fit. At least, that's the image she works hard to portray. Deep inside though, she's struggling to find her place in the world. Her sisters are marrying, and she feels more than a little lonely in her tiny corner of Black Aces, Montana. When there's an opportunity to move to Cauldron Valley, she jumps at it—despite their finger licking ways. She hopes to be invited to more activities at Cauldron Valley Ranch now that two of her sisters live there.
Aaron McGovern is a cowboy by day, but by night…well, let's just say he has a secret he's not willing to share with anyone. He is always short on time, but he loves being busy. He feels that he's fulfilled in a way most people aren't, but he questions what he's missing when he spots beautiful Athena Weston across a crowded picnic at the ranch where he works. All he can think about is asking her to make all his dreams come true and be his for eternity.
Will prickly Athena be able to get past her suspicions with the opposite sex to respond appropriately? Or will she spend the rest of her life wishing she'd had more courage to reach out and grab happiness?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unlimited Dreams
• Release date: Aug 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393538905

Book preview

Chapter 1

Aaron McGovern started at the knock on his front door, and immediately saved his document and closed his laptop. There was no way he was going to let anyone catch him at what he was doing. How could he? He would never be seen the same way again.

When he went to the door, he opened it wide for Rusty, the only female horse wrangler on the ranch. There were a few female jockeys, but no others who worked with Jim, training the horses. Hey, Rusty. What’s up?

I feel like we all need to go to Seth’s wedding, but I hate those things. I always stand in the corner feeling stupid. I’ve seen you do the same, so I have a proposition...

What’s that? Aaron asked, a grin on his face. He liked Rusty. She amused him like no one else. He knew what she wanted. She wasn’t exactly subtle about anything, but he felt the need to make her say it. More to torment her than anything else. Why wouldn’t he torment one of his very favorite people?

She glared at him. Will you be my date to the wedding, Aaron? Or have you got big plans? She pushed past him into the little two-bedroom house he rented on Cauldron Valley Ranch, where they both worked. She walked to his fridge, found her favorite soft drink there, because Aaron kept them stocked for her, and walked to his couch and collapsed.

Aaron shrugged. I guess I can do that. He shut the door and got himself a drink as well. Barq’s Root Beer. He walked over and sat down beside her on the couch, popping the top of his drink. You wearing a dress? Or are we going to look like a couple of guys on a date? He loved to tease her about how she dressed. And everything else he could think of.

Rusty rolled her eyes. You just wanna check out my legs.

Why? They’re either pure white or sunburned. I’ve seen both shades of skin a redhead can have.

You’re a pain in my arse, Aaron McGovern. She sighed. What were you doing in here anyway? The TV isn’t even on.

Some people read books. It’s good for the brain.

She laughed. Sure they do. You back there reading some kind of romance novel?

Aaron wasn’t sure how he kept a straight face. "You mean lady porn? Isn’t that what you read? Most action you’re going to get." He’d learned long before that Rusty wanted to be treated as one of the guys, and he was willing to do it.

Aww, please. If we went to the Watering Hole, I’d be the first to get laid, and we both know it. Rusty had the prettiest brown eyes, and he knew she could be a real looker if she actually dressed up. He’d only seen it once though. It wasn’t something she did often, because she was more comfortable in her jeans and work shirts.

Yeah, you would. He sighed, thinking back to the beautiful girl he’d seen at a recent family picnic. He wanted nothing more than to get to know her, but...well, one of his bosses was married to her sister, and a co-worker was marrying another sister. He wasn’t sure he was ready to run in those circles. The more time people spent with him, the better chance there was of them figuring out what he did with his evenings. Fine, you wear a skirt, and I’ll be your date.

Rusty laughed. I will then. I’ll wear the shortest skirt you’ve ever seen and every man in the room will be fantasizing about the girl you’re taking home.

Every man in the room but me, you mean. Aaron didn’t think of Rusty as anything more than a kid sister, and he never had. They’d been a year apart in school and had both ended up working at the ranch. He’d done online university and gotten his degree, which no one in the area really knew about, and she’d done everything she could to work with their direct boss, Jim Cauldron, to learn to be the best horse trainer around. She was still second best to Jim, but she was pretty amazing.

He was sure everyone thought he had no ambition, but it worked for him, so he didn’t correct anyone.

Rusty wrinkled her nose at him. You know you want this. She indicated her body with one hand, and Aaron grinned. Did the woman even realize she was dressed like a man and had cow manure on her boots? Probably not. She tended to be oblivious to those things. He doubted she even owned a skirt.

Wedding is Saturday. I’ll meet you here about noon, if that works out for you. Then you can feast your eyes on the most beautiful girl in all of Cauldron Valley.

Aaron swallowed hard. He would be feasting his eyes on the sexiest, most intriguing girl in the whole world, and he’d have Rusty on his arm as he did it. I’ll be ready to be bowled over by your grace and beauty. He said the words so blandly that she swatted him.

You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Aaron. Rusty drained the rest of her can of soda and got to her feet. I’ll let you get back to reading your romance novels. Enjoy yourself. With that, she threw the can into his trash, opened the door and sauntered away.

Aaron just shook his head. If she had any idea that he’d been in the process of writing a romance novel when she’d arrived, she’d have laughed until she fell over. Oh, well. He was determined not to care.

He was also determined not to let anyone find out what he was doing when he sequestered himself away. How could he admit he was popular romance novelist Erin McClain? He couldn’t. He was a cowboy, and rough and tumble cowboys didn’t write romance for women.

He got back into his spare room and opened his laptop, reading over the last paragraph he’d read so he could get back into the flow of the story. Why was it every time he pictured the heroine of the book he was writing, he thought about Athena Weston? He was almost jealous of the hero he’d created.

Jason grabbed Cynthia’s hand and ran with her through the rain until they reached the trees a short distance from where they’d been walking. They were both drenched, and he laughed as he wiped the water from his face. He grinned at Cynthia, and then he realized that her thin white shirt was not what she should be running around in the rain wearing. In fact, she could win a wet T-shirt contest hands down. He wanted to grab her and plaster his lips on hers, but how could he? She was his best friend’s little sister, and it was against the bro code.

And then he caught the look in little Cyndi’s eyes, and he forgot all about the bro code. His hands went to her waist, and he pulled her to him, his lips coming down on hers in a kiss, so soft and sweet, he was surprised he was capable of kissing anyone that way.

When Cyndi wrapped her arms around him, he pulled her closer against him, pushing her up against a tree. He wanted her, and he wanted her now, and that was just the reason he had to stop. He could picture Travis’s face when he caught sight of the two of them kissing, and he couldn’t betray the best friend he’d had since grade school.

Jason pulled away and ran his fingers through his hair. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.

Aaron smiled as he finished writing the last sentence. He had to get something to eat if he was going to finish the scene that night, and he had to finish the scene if he was going to publish on schedule. Rusty’s little interruption had cost him a good thousand words of his goal for the night, which meant, he’d be staying up later to get what he had to do finished. There was no way he was letting himself get behind.

And the wedding on Saturday was going to cut into his weekend writing time in a big way. He should have just stopped working on the ranch and used the money he made writing to support himself, and he knew he would eventually, but he didn’t want to come out of the romance writer closet just yet.

He knew his books were good, but the stigma that surrounded romance novels kept him from saying anything. It was bad enough when a woman wrote romance. When a man wrote romance, he