Second Hope Cowboy Read Free

remodeling. Just like this place. It needs the same repairs it did when I lived here.” As if to prove her point, she kicked a spindle on the rail.
    He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from slamming his hand into his hair again. At this rate, he’d be bald by the time she left. “Why does this mean so much to you?”
    She worked her bottom lip between her teeth. “I love that house.” Her soft voice made the hairs on his arms stand.
    “You walked away. With Chester, I might add. He was my dog. I raised him from a pup.” Another ounce of frustration weighed on his shoulders. “Our bed was barely cold before I received the divorce papers.” Dragging his hands from his pockets, he marched across the space of the small porch and leaned against the railing. The wood whined and splintered. He realized the house at Havens Ranch wasn’t the only thing that needed some tender loving care. Everything around him had suffered.
    “Chester was a good dog. I guess I took him because—”
    “What do you mean ‘was’?” His heart thumped against his ribcage.
    One corner of her mouth dropped. “He died a few months ago.”
    Tucker didn’t realize he was holding his breath until his lungs singed. Inhaling sharply, he kicked a broken spindle, sending it whirling through the air and landing in the grass. He crossed his arms over his chest. Chester, a Boxer, had been like a kid to him. “How?”
    “He was old and in pain from arthritis. The vet said it was best to let him go.” She sniffed and suspiciously wiped her cheek.
    Emotion riddled his veins but he pushed all feeling to the shadows, just as he had everything else, allowing anger to scorch its way through his body. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight from boot to boot.
    The best thing he needed right now was for her to leave.
    “I don’t want to see you again, Hope. You made your choice when you left. The house is mine. You gave it up. Over my dead body will I give you the place just because you have a change of mind. Now do us both a favor and move on with your life. It seems you already have. You being here only makes my head spin and my gut sicken. I bet you were fucking the doc before I even signed our marriage into dust.” He’d say anything to get her to go.
    Hurt filled her eyes. “I thought you and I could talk like civilized adults, but I see that I was wrong. I should never have come.”
    ****
    Hope slid into the driver’s side of her car but didn’t start the engine. Her hands were trembling, as well as her insides. She gripped the steering wheel, hoping her nerves would calm. She shouldn’t have drunk the beer because it settled like liquid fire in the pit of her stomach.
    Seeing Tucker after so long had been harder than she’d expected. On her drive to the cabin, she’d prepared herself for an upheaval of emotion, but she had no clue she’d feel like someone caught her with a fishhook and extracted her heart.
    Why had she come?
    Why had she put herself through the torture?
    She’d had a sliver of hope—but hope for what?
    Expecting his distance, she hadn’t anticipated her raw emotions.
    He was right to be upset. She’d left, given up. Even if she told him the truth, he could never understand why she’d walked away from their marriage, left everything behind that meant anything to her—except Chester. And that had been a fluke. The dog had followed her out, climbed into her car and wouldn’t budge. So, she’d driven away with a few clothes tossed into a small suitcase and a whimpering dog that stared at her in accusation for months afterward.
    Who would have known the dog would become her best friend. And his death had opened old wounds. She’d wanted to connect with the past so she’d taken a ride to Havens Ranch and what she saw had made her stomach twist into a thousand knots—the abandoned house with overgrown weeds, dirty siding and a fallen shutter hanging on by a rusty nail.
    She had even pushed logic aside and