A Cowboy's Midnight Kiss (Romancing the Stones) Read online

  A Cowboy's Midnight Kiss

  Romancing the Stones

  Victoria Vane

  Published by Vane Publishing LLC, 2016.

  Also by Victoria Vane

  Romancing the Stones

  A Cowboy's Midnight Kiss (Coming Soon)

  The Devil DeVere Series

  The Virgin Huntress

  The Devil You Know

  The Devil's Match

  Jewel of the East

  A Devil's Touch

  The Trouble with Sin

  The Rules of Engagement

  A Pledge of Passion

  Standalone

  The Redemption of Julian Price

  Watch for more at Victoria Vane’s site.

  A COWBOY’S MIDNIGHT KISS

  VICTORIA VANE

  2015 VICTORIA VANE

  Copyright 2015 VICTORIA VANE

  All rights reserved

  A Cowboy’s Midnight Kiss (Ring in A Cowboy)

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages written in a review.

  For information, please contact Victoria Vane @ [email protected].

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue in this work are from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is completely coincidental.

  This book is for your personal pleasure. Ebooks are not transferrable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. If you have enjoyed this book and wish to share with another reader(s) please purchase another copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, please purchase a legal copy. Thank you for appreciating the hard work the author invested in this book.

  Cover Photography by VJ Dunraven of Period Images www.periodimages.com

  Cover design by Romance Cover Creations: www.romance-covers.com

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  Boca Raton, Florida

  CASSIDY WATCHED numbly as the movers packed up the remnants of her life. “Are you okay?” her best friend Liz asked softly.

  “Yeah. I’m okay,” Cassidy replied automatically. “I’ve been in limbo for so long. I’m eager to put all of this behind me.”

  “What are your plans?” Liz asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” Cassidy replied. “Now that this place has finally sold, there’s nothing to hold me here anymore. I can afford to explore my options. I’d like to take some time off to think about it.”

  “I can understand that,” Liz replied with a light laugh. “I took a ten day cruise after my first divorce and ironically met ex-husband number two. After that fiasco, I went on holiday at one of the big ski resorts in the Tetons and met number three. Gavin and I later invested in a place up there. We decided to keep it after the divorce and now split the time between us. The weeks that we don’t use it, we lease it out. It’s worked out great so far. Mandy and I are going up for the holidays. Wanna join us? Or were you planning to go home for Christmas this year?”

  “I was considering it,” Cassidy said, chewing her lip. The holidays were only a few weeks away. She didn’t know yet where she was going to spend them other than not in Florida. It had never felt like Christmas since she and Doug had moved south. “It’s been several years since I’ve been to North Carolina,” she continued, “but I’m not really in the right frame of mind to embrace a big family gathering. You know how much my family was in love with Doug, especially my mother. What woman doesn’t dream of her daughter marrying a cardiothoracic surgeon? She thinks the divorce is the biggest mistake of my life. I’d really like to get away from here, but I dread all the prying questions. Then again, I don’t really want to be alone either.”

  “Then come with us,” Liz insisted. “It’s the perfect answer. It’s a gorgeous place, three bedrooms, ski-in ski-out, complete with a hot tub. We have it for the entire month of Mandy’s school break, but she only wants to spend a couple of weeks up there this year. New boyfriend,” Liz explained with a roll of her eyes. “She begged me to let him come too, but I’d planned on us having some girl time. We hardly see each other since she started college.”

  “It hardly seems possible,” Cassidy replied. “She was thirteen and still in braces when I first met her.”

  Liz sighed. “Time flies way too fast.”

  “It does indeed,” Cassidy remarked wistfully.

  Where had the years gone? She felt like she’d lost half a decade. She’d always thought she’d be happily settled in a quiet suburb with a couple of kids of her own by this point in her life. Nothing had turned out as she’d imagined when she left North Carolina to chase Doug’s dream. Once he’d risen to chief of cardiothoracic surgery, rather than starting a family as he’d promised, he’d gone out and bought a boat. After working so hard to get ahead, he wanted to enjoy his down time with sailing and traveling. Kids, he argued, would only tie them down.

  His success had changed their lives but not for the better. Doug’s working hours had become longer and their time together shorter. Before she knew it, their lives were all about keeping up appearances. Bored and unfulfilled, she’d thrown herself into the kind of lifestyle she’d always despised. One day she woke up realizing that she too, had become someone she didn’t recognize. Doug saw nothing wrong with their life and refused to make any changes. Over time, they only drifted further apart until there was nothing left to bind them.

  “I’m serious about the invite, Cass. You really should come with us. Mandy loves it up there. I’m sure you would too. Besides, you never know who you might meet in a place like that,” Liz added with a wink.

  “Let’s not go there,” Cassidy said. “I’m not ready to date yet.”

  “Doug hasn’t wasted any time,” Liz countered dryly.

  That much was true. He’d hardly waited for the ink to dry on the divorce papers before taking up with one of his nurses, which only confirmed her suspicions about his late working hours. She’d never confronted him about it because part of her didn’t really want to know. She’d chosen to leave with fond memories instead of ugly ones. She chose to ignore the remark.

  “I’ve never been out west,” Cassidy said. “I’m really tempted, but I haven’t skied since I was a kid. I’d probably just end up breaking a leg.”

  “Then take a few lessons or just stick to the bunny trails,” Liz suggested.

  She flicked a glance at her diamond beveled Cartier watch and gasped. “Oops! I’d better go. I’ve got a showing at Sanctuary Point in twenty minutes.” Liz was one of the most successful realtor’s in southern Palm Beach County. They’d met when she’d brokered the deal on the penthouse and had become almost instant friends. Think about it, okay?” Liz added, almost running to the door. “It’ll be fun and we’ve got plenty of space.”

  “Thanks, Liz. I’ll let you know by tomorrow.”

  After following Liz to the door, Cassidy closed it quietly behind her. She then moved slowly from room to room in a daze of detachment. The vacant space only seemed to symbolize her empty life, an emptiness magnified by the echo of her Christian Louboutin heels against the Italian marble tiles. Shouldn’t she feel something? She didn’t. She had no attachment to t
he place because it had never felt like a real home, at least not the kind she’d grown up in, or the kind she’d always imagined. Her life aspirations had never included a multi-million dollar condo, an Audi A8, or six hundred dollar designer shoes. These were the fruition of Doug’s ambitions, not hers. That was not to say she hadn’t been seduced by the material trappings of success; she had been, but it hadn’t made her happy. Although she was glad to be free again to follow her own dreams, she didn’t even know what those were anymore, and dreaded the prospect of starting all over again.

  Seeking solace from her own thoughts, Cassidy stepped out onto the balcony. It was early December but the mercury still hovered at eighty plus degrees. When she’d first arrived in Florida, it had seemed like paradise with all the gorgeous tropical flowers and palm trees, but after a time she’d stopped noticing them. She recalled the sense of wonderment she’d always felt at the first spring daffodils that poked their yellow heads through patches of snow back in North Carolina. But here, it was all too easy to become desensitized to the beauty when nothing ever changed.

  Leaning over the rail she gazed out over the glittering turquoise waters, breathing deeply of the briny air, but rather than soothing her, the balmy breeze suddenly felt stifling. She longed for the invigorating nip of frost and the earthiness of evergreen—the remembered scents of home.

  Wyoming wasn’t North Carolina but it had bigger mountains and plenty of wide open spaces—and the distance that she needed to put her broken life back together

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dubois, Wyoming – December 22

  “THAT ONE, Uncle Griff!” Kaden shouted, pointing to a twenty-foot Douglas fir. “That’s our tree!”

  “Sorry, Kaden,” Griffin shook his head. “Even if we could fit it through the door, the ceiling’s not high enough.” He chuckled at his nephew’s obvious disappointment. “You’re gonna have to pick a smaller one.”

  “But I don’t want a smaller one,” Kaden protested with a scowl. “Santa won’t be able to fit as many presents under it.”

  “Ah! I see the problem now. It’s not so much the height but girth that’s needed, so let’s look for the fattest damned tree in this whole forest.” A few minutes later Griff circled the ATV around a particularly paunchy blue spruce. He put on the brake and turned to Kaden. “This guy looks like a likely candidate. What do you think?”

  Kaden flashed a grin that displayed two missing front teeth. “Can I start the chainsaw?”

  “You aren’t strong enough yet,” Griff replied. “Eat more meat and maybe you’ll have enough muscle on your bones next year.”

  “I’ve got muscles now.” Kaden leapt off the ATV and flexed his arms. “See?”

  Griff threw a leg over the seat and gave the six year old’s biceps a squeeze. “I stand corrected,” he said. He pulled the chainsaw from the utility card and held out the pull starter. “Go ahead and give it whirl.”

  Kaden grunted as he gave a yank. The starter cord barely gave an inch in response. Knitting his tawny brows, he tried again without success. On the third attempt, his hand slipped, landing him on his ass. Griff stifled a laugh.

  “It’s not funny, Uncle Griff!” The little boy glowered. “You just wait. I’m gonna be as big and strong as my daddy one day.” He squinted at Griff. “He’s even bigger than you, isn’t he, Uncle Griff?”

  “Yeah. He’s bigger.”

  “I bet he’s stronger too.”

  “I s’pose so,” Griff confessed reluctantly. “He’s meaner too. Eats nails for breakfast. All Marines do.”

  “Really?” Kaden asked wide-eyed. “I don’t bemember that.”

  “Nah.” Griff ruffled his hair with a laugh. “I was just pulling your leg, but he really is a tough sonofa—gun.”

  “I wish Daddy was here,” Kaden remarked. “Is he gonna be home in time for Christmas this year?”

  “We don’t know yet, but your Mom sure hopes so.”

  They still hadn’t heard for certain. It’s why Griff had waited so long to get the tree, in hope that his brother would be there too. Derrick’s deployment had been hard on everyone. Denise had been pregnant and delivered Kelsey while he was away. Griff had promised Derrick to look after Kaden, Denise, and the baby, and he’d kept that promise, though it meant, putting all of his own plans on hold.

  He’d graduated with a business degree and had aspirations of bigger and better things than ranching, but his family’s needs had come first. Although Derrick’s discharge would allow him to reclaim his own life, Griff no longer wanted the same things he’d wanted before. The past five years had changed him. Now he wasn’t sure what he wanted after his brother returned home to take over the ranch. He’d become so accustomed to his surrogate father role that he didn’t know what he’d do without the kids in his life. That wasn’t to say he wouldn’t enjoy some freedom from responsibility. He was looking forward to cutting loose, but with a population of fewer than one thousand, the entertainment options were slim in Dubois. He always thought he’d leave one day for greener pastures, but now that he had business interests outside of the ranch, staying didn’t seem so bad. Not that he minded getting away for a while.

  He was thankful to be spending the bulk of this winter in Jackson. It was a bitch to have to work during the holidays, but it was peak ski season and the resort town would be filled with droves of tourists. The property management gig helped to carry him through the long, harsh Wyoming winters, but it was his own rentals that were starting to pay off. He’d bought three condos over the past few years and was in the midst of remodeling another. He rolled back his sleeve to check his watch. It was almost noon. The Lovetts were scheduled to arrive at four, which gave him only two hours get the tree back home, shower, and pack up his things.

  “How ‘bout we try starting that saw together?” Griff suggested.

  With nothing bruised but his pride, Kaden brushed the snow off with a nod. Fifteen minutes later, they had the tree felled, secured, and ready to drag back to the ranch behind the ATV. “C’mon,” Griff said, patting his lap. “I’ll let you drive us back.”

  ***

  St John’s Medical Center, Jackson, Wyoming

  “I AM SO SORRY for this,” Cassidy lamented as she hobbled out of the emergency room on her new crutches. “We’re barely off the airplane and I’ve already managed to ruin our entire holiday!”

  “It’s all right, Cass,” Liz replied. “It could have been any one of us.”

  “But tripping at the airport? How ridiculous is that!” She’d been so awestruck by the magnificence of the Tetons that she’d tripped stepping off of the curb. “If I had to sprain my ankle, why couldn’t it at least have happened while zipping down Corbet’s Couloir? At least then I could have had bragging rights.”

  “Have you done it before?” Mandy asked. “My legs turn to jelly just looking at that ski run.”

  “No,” Cassidy laughed. “I’ve never skied anything even close to a black diamond. I’m a novice at best, but I did see someone do that run on YouTube. Pretty terrifying.”

  “There’s an even scarier one called S&S,” Mandy said. “You have to get special permission from ski patrol to try it. They even have a special waver. Brad wanted to come up and try it with his snow board but Mom,” she slanted Liz the evil eye, “wouldn’t let me invite him.”

  “Because this is girl time,” Liz replied.

  “So you mean you won’t be trolling for a new man this time?” Mandy asked.

  “My love life is none of your business, young lady,” Liz replied testily.

  “I could say the same,” Mandy snapped back. “Why don’t you like Brad?”

  “I don’t dislike him, Mandy. I hardly know him,” Liz said.

  “And whose fault is that? You should have let me invite him.”

  “Look. There’s a world of difference between knowing your daughter is having sex and actually hearing it. I’d rather not, thank you very much. Wait here,” Liz said with a wave. “I’ll bring the car ar
ound.”

  “Can you believe what a total hypocrite she is?” Mandy lamented as soon as her mother’s back was turned. “She always hooks up with someone when we’re on vacay, but I can’t bring my boyfriend? I’m half tempted to buy him a ticket. Or maybe I’ll just go back and spend Christmas with him. How would she like that?”

  “Be reasonable, Mandy,” Cassidy cajoled. “Your mom thought it would be fun to have some time together. She misses you, you know.”

  “She smothers me,” Mandy grumbled.

  Cassidy stifled a groan. As if her injury wasn’t bad enough, was she going to have to endure this constant squabbling between Liz and Mandy for the next two weeks? It seemed about to become the holiday from hell. She’d be tempted to take the next flight home—if she had a home to go to. She hadn’t even signed a lease on a place yet. There didn’t seem to be any point when she was going away two weeks after she sold the penthouse. Liz had already started looking for a suitable apartment for her, but Cassidy wasn’t so sure she wanted to stay in Florida.

  Although she’d lost her southern drawl and traded her faded 501 Levis for Roberto Cavelli, at heart she was still a simple Carolina country girl. But returning to Rocky Slope wasn’t an option. Her parents were still there but no one she’d grown up with had hung around. Although picturesque, the township of five hundred provided little opportunity to make a living.

  Liz’s rented SUV pulled up to the curb. Cassidy took a tentative step toward the vehicle and almost cried out at the jolt of pain.

  “Are you all right?” Mandy asked, her concern momentarily diverted from her own woes.

  “I will be as soon as the pain pills kick in,” Cassidy said dryly.

  “This really sucks,” Mandy said, opening the passenger door for Cassidy. “You aren’t going to be able to do any of the stuff Mom planned—skiing is definitely out. So is the horseback ride and the trip to Mammoth Hot Springs.”