The Cowgirl's Unmistakable Love - MacFarland Ranch Book 2 (ebook)

While there are six sexy cowboy brothers in the MacFarland family, their sister, Jane, would never describe herself as sexy, or even good-looking. As far as she's concerned, she's just plain Jane - and she's fine with that.

She doesn't need people lying to her to make her feel better about herself. She’s good at her job and takes good care of all her animals. She’s a decent person, and that’s all that matters.

Her brothers and her friends know better than to try and talk her up. But newcomer to the valley, Rocket, hasn't learned yet. He keeps telling her that she's beautiful. She keeps telling him that he's mistaken.

Rocket had a rough childhood - to put it mildly. He grew up in foster care, shunted from one placement to the next. He mostly prefers animals to people. Animals are more straightforward and honest with their emotions. He's landed himself in trouble in the past protecting them, but he has no regrets.

Women have always thrown themselves at him, and he doesn't mind obliging them. They only want him for one thing, and that's the only thing he's interested in sharing with them.

Until Janey. She's the kind of woman he thought he'd never meet. She's smart; she's a veterinarian. She loves animals just as much as he does. She's kind and has the biggest heart. She's the most beautiful person he's ever known and ... she claims that she's not interested.

She refuses to believe him when he tells her that she's beautiful. She tells him that he's mistaken. But he's not.

There's no mistaking the fact that he's falling hard for her, but how will he convince her that she's everything he wants?

Chapter One


“You guys head on home if you like. I can finish here and lock up,” Rocket said as he finished wiping down the inside of the display counter.

Spider raised his eyebrows. “I thought we were all going to finish off. You need to get done so that you can get home and changed, the same as we do.”

“I know, but I only need to run across the road to get to my place. You have to drive all the way down the valley and then come back up again.”

Frankie came and stood beside Spider. “Are you sure?”

Rocket chuckled. “Sure, I’m sure. Go on, get out of here. You can give me a call when you’re on your way back later.”

Spider still didn’t look convinced. “Why do I get the feeling that when we call, you’re going to say you’re not coming?”

Rocket shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Come on,” Frankie tugged at Spider’s hand. “Even if he tries to get out of it later, we can just go and drag him out. But it’s been a hell of a day, and I want to get home and take a long, hot shower.”

From the look she and Spider exchanged, Rocket guessed that she wasn’t planning on taking that shower alone. Spider shot him another questioning glance, and he nodded. “Go!”

After they’d gone, he finished cleaning and then stood there looking around the empty bakery. Spider had bought the place about six months ago, and a few months after that, Rocket had moved up here to Montana to help him run the place. So far, he was loving it.

Paradise Valley, Montana was about as different as you could get from LA, where Rocket had spent most of his life. If someone had told him even a year ago, that he’d live out here, he would have laughed in their face. Now, it was starting to feel like home.

He looked up when someone knocked on the front door. He could ignore it. They were closed and had been for a while. But things didn’t work that way out here; here, people helped each other out, no matter what time of day or night it was. He smiled when he came out from behind the counter and saw who was out there knocking.

“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” he asked with a smile when he let him in. “Donuts?”

Deacon made a face at him. “I’ve told you before, the donuts thing is getting old.”

Rocket blew out a sigh. He kept trying to get a smile out of the man. Sometimes, he scored a little victory, but it didn’t look like Deacon was in the mood tonight. “Sorry. What then?”

“I don’t need anything other than a word. Well, as a matter of fact, I want to ask you a favor.”

“Whatever you need, I’ll be happy to help.” It was the truth, too. He knew that he wasn’t Deacon’s favorite person – an ex-con was never going to be the sheriff’s favorite person. But the guy had offered to rent him a room when he arrived here. He was a decent landlord. Rocket was happy to do whatever the man might need, to help him out.

“It’s probably nothing like what you’re expecting.” Deacon looked … embarrassed, maybe.

“I don’t know what to expect. So, fire away.”

“I have the weekend off, and an old buddy of mine just called. He’s in Billings for the weekend. He wanted to know if I can get over there, but …”

“I’ll keep an eye on your place if that’s what you’re worried about?”

Deacon shook his head. “It’s not the place I’m worried about. It’s …” he took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair before putting it back on again, “… it’s Clawson.”

Rocket brought his hand up to cover his smile. He thought it was awesome that the sheriff loved his ornery, old, orange tomcat the way he did. But he knew that people gave him a hard time over it.

“You want me to keep an eye on him?”

Deacon’s shoulders relaxed a little. “Would you? He knows you. And you’re good with him.” Deacon smiled through pursed lips. “Everyone else gives me shit, but I know you get it.”

Rocket smiled back at him. “I do. And I’d be honored.”

“Thanks. I’m not just being soft about it. He had a scratch that got infected, so I’ve been keeping an eye on it. I can’t leave him by himself, but I haven’t seen this guy in years. I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m glad to be able to help. Do you think he’d be happy to come upstairs with me? Or would you rather he stayed at your place, and I just look in on him?”

Rocket rented the upstairs of Deacon’s house. It was a self-contained unit, but they shared the front door and the hallway. Clawson often came upstairs to visit, but Rocket didn’t know how Deacon would feel about him spending the weekend up there.

“Whichever suits you better. I’m not asking you to give up your weekend to spend it with him. I know you’ll be at work in here, and I’d guess that you’ll be out tonight and tomorrow night. I just …”

Rocket held his hand up. “I have this weekend off. I was only planning on hanging out and relaxing anyway.”

“Okay. Well, I guess it’d make sense for him to come up to your place, then.”

“Great. I’m done here. Do you want me to come back with you, and you can come up and see that he’s settled before you go?”

Deacon gave him a rueful smile. “Thanks.”

When they got back to the house, Deacon collected Clawson and brought him up to Rocket’s place. As soon as he set him down, Clawson stalked straight to Rocket and rubbed around his legs.

Deacon chuckled. “When I first met you, I thought for sure that you’d scare him off. But he took to you faster than he’s taken to anyone else.”

Rocket smiled at the compliment. “Thanks.” He frowned and bent down when he saw the scratch that Deacon had been talking about. It didn’t look good. He touched the area near it, and Clawson turned and glared at him.

“Shit.” Deacon squatted down next to him. “Janey said that the cream should clear it up no problem, but it looks worse, not better. I can’t leave him like this. I’ll call my buddy back and tell him –”

“No!” Rocket spoke too forcefully, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t want Deacon to miss out on his weekend and more than that, he was happy to take care of Clawson – especially if there was a chance of him needing the attention of the local veterinarian.

Deacon frowned at him.

“Seriously, I can take care of him. He’ll be fine. I’ll keep an eye on him tonight, and if he doesn’t look better in the morning, I can take him to see Janey.”

Deacon held his gaze for a long moment, but Rocket refused to look away. “What’s your deal with Janey?”

He let out a short laugh. “I don’t have a deal.”

“But you wish you did?”

Rocket shrugged. “Yeah.”

Deacon scowled at him. “Why?”

Rocket scowled right back. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Deacon blew out a sigh. “I’ve heard the rumors that you’ve got the hots for her but …”

“But what?”

“Like I just said; why?”

“And like I just said, why wouldn’t I?” He wasn’t stupid. He knew what people thought; they thought that because Janey wasn’t what most people considered to be beautiful, his interest in her couldn’t be genuine. He scowled at Deacon, waiting for him to admit that he didn’t think Janey was attractive enough to warrant that kind of interest.

Deacon didn’t look like he was going to back down. “I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be interested in her. She’s one of the best people I know. But we’re all protective of her. She doesn’t know her own worth, and it’d be all too easy for some asshole to take advantage of her.”

“Are you calling me an asshole now?” Rocket knew he probably shouldn’t antagonize the man who was not only his landlord, but also the sheriff, but when it came to Janey, he couldn’t help it, he seemed to lose track of logic and reason.

Deacon chuckled. “No. I’m not. If you really want to know, I’m kind of fascinated. But I’ll tell you now that if you mess with her, you won’t know what’s hit you. And I’m not just talking about me.”

“I know. I’ve met her brothers.”

Deacon laughed. “You’ve met some of them, not all of them, and not the worst of them. And they’re only half your problem anyway. She has six brothers and a whole bunch more of us who consider ourselves as good as family. You mess with her, and you’ll get run out of this valley faster than you can blink.”

Rocket rubbed the ball of his hand against his forehead. “Right. I know all of that. Everyone keeps warning me not to mess with her. I don’t want to mess with her. I think she’s awesome. I want to get to know her. Everyone says that she doesn’t know her own worth, and she doesn’t this and she can’t that, but no one seems to recognize just how amazing she is. And when people realize that I like her, they all warn me off. Everyone says that she deserves to be happy, but in the next breath they warn me off.” He sat back on his heels and rubbed Clawson’s head absently. “What if I’m the guy who could make her happy? What if instead of protecting her, all you guys are doing is denying her the chance to be with someone who’ll treat her like a queen?”

Deacon got to his feet, and Rocket followed. He felt stupid now; he shouldn’t have poured it all out like that, but he was getting frustrated. He’d been bowled over by Janey MacFarland the first time he saw her. But that was months ago now, and it felt like the whole valley was determined to keep him away from her.

Deacon rubbed his hand over his chin and walked over to the window. He stood there, staring out at the mountains. All Rocket could do was stare at his back, wondering what he was thinking.

When he turned back around, he looked as serious as Rocket had ever seen him – and that was pretty damn serious – the man could hardly be described as jovial at the best of times.

“Do you have her number?”

Rocket shook his head slowly, wondering where this was going. “No, but not for lack of asking. Every time I try, she blows me off.”

Deacon raised his eyebrows. “And you still think that you could be the guy to make her happy?”

He shrugged. “It’s not that she doesn’t want me to call her, she does. But she doesn’t believe that I’m really into her.”

“Confident much?”

Rocket just shrugged. He knew the deal. He’d been with a lot of women in his life. Women liked him. He was used to it. He knew when they were interested. He used to give them what they were interested in more often than not. But he didn’t see Janey that way. She was interested in him, but she didn’t believe that he – or that any guy – would be interested in her.

“You’re not who I thought you were.”

“No.”

Deacon gave him a wry smile. “I was about to ask how you know that, but I suppose it’s obvious. I didn’t give you the warmest welcome, did I?”

“Understandably so. I know what the world expects from a guy who looks the way I do. And I had no doubt that you’d check my record just as soon as you could. I wouldn’t expect any less of someone in your position. In fact, I’d think less of you if you didn’t. And my record told you that I’m not someone you’d want in your town. I get that. I’m just glad that you gave me a chance anyway.”

Deacon frowned. “I didn’t offer you the room out of the goodness of my heart. I wanted you where I could keep an eye on you.”

Rocket chuckled. “I know, but I’d still say that it was out of the goodness of your heart – you wanted to keep an eye on me – the unknown quantity – because you want to protect your people from me. That’s a good heart.”

Deacon gave him a grudging smile. “Right. But now that I know you, you’re more than your record. You’re more than your looks.”

Rocket nodded.

“So, I’m going to do something that …” He shook his head. “If you let me down, her brothers will be the least of your worries. I’ll hunt you down myself and make you regret it until the day you die.”

“What? You’ve lost me. I can’t tell you that I won’t let you down if I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Deacon sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he spoke again. “Get your phone out.”

Rocket took his phone out from his back pocket.

Deacon gave him a wry smile. “Are you ready? This is Janey’s number.”

Rocket tapped it into his phone as Deacon said it. Then he hit save with a shaking hand.

“You might need to call her if Clawson gets worse over the next couple days.”

Rocket glanced at the cat, who had settled himself on the back of the sofa.

“But,” Deacon continued, “whatever else you decide to do with her number is up to you.”

Rocket looked down at his phone and then up at Deacon. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

They stared at each other for a few moments. Rocket’s mind was racing. He was stoked that Deacon trusted him. But at the same time, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to call Janey. Of course, he wanted to call her. But he wanted her to be the one to give him her number – because she wanted him to call her.

~ ~ ~

Janey sat on the bench in the mudroom and kicked her boots off. It had been a long hard day – a long hard week for that matter. She wanted nothing more than to take a long hot shower, curl up on the sofa, and find a good movie, or better yet, some show that she could binge-watch.

She grinned when Boo came sauntering out to greet her and rested his chin on her knee. “How you doing, old fella? Has that Achilles given you any trouble today?”

Boo looked up at her with big brown eyes and let out a sigh that made her laugh. He acted as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Janey scratched his ears.

“Never mind. I’m home now. Let’s get you guys some dinner. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to stick around tonight and hang with you both.”

Achilles came stalking into the mudroom at the sound of the word dinner. His tail stuck straight up like a flagpole. Just the very tip twitched back and forth, which Janey knew was an indication of his irritation. He liked to be the first one to greet her when she got home – and the first one to get his dinner. She chuckled as he brushed past Boo and rubbed his head against her leg.

“Greetings, furry, orange master. Forgive my tardiness. Dinner will be served shortly.”

Achilles gave her a baleful stare and headed back to the kitchen. Boo let out a short woof and followed him.

When they were both fed, Janey opened the cupboard, wondering what she was going to have. She didn’t feel like cooking. She closed the cupboard and made a face when she heard her phone ringing. It was still in her bag out in the mudroom. She could ignore it. It was most likely her cousin, Frankie. Frankie had been threatening all week that she was going to drag her out to Chico tonight. If Janey didn’t answer, then Frankie wouldn’t be able to talk her into it. Still, she hurried to get her phone anyway. She’d rather endure Frankie pestering to go out than miss a call from a client. If someone needed her, she’d throw her boots back on and go.

She made a face when she saw Frankie’s name on the display.

“Hey.”

“Don’t you hey me, Janey MacFarland. You know damn well why I’m calling. Are you ready?”

“No. I just got home.”

“Well, hurry your ass into the shower and get ready. We just left the ranch. We’ll be back up your end of the valley in half an hour. We’ll come and pick you up.”

“I don’t know, Frankie. I’m tired. I haven’t eaten yet and …”

“And nothing. You haven’t been out in forever. You said you’d come tonight. So, we’re coming to get you. End of story.”

“I didn’t say I’d come out tonight. You were the one who informed me that I was.”

Frankie laughed. “Yeah, I suppose. But you were informed. So, you’re coming.”

Janey watched as Boo and Achilles finished their dinner. Achilles jumped up onto the back of the sofa and started to wash himself. Boo flopped down on the floor near the back door. “I need to go and let Boo out.”

“So, go. It’s not like you need to hang up on me to do that.”

Janey trudged to the back door and let him out.

“You’d better hurry up and get in the shower.”

“Do I have to come?”

Frankie was quiet for a moment. “No. Not if you really don’t want to. But it’d do you good, Janey. You know it. And I miss you. We haven’t hung out in forever.”

“Okay then! You’ve guilted me into it. Happy now?”

Frankie laughed. “I wasn’t trying to guilt you. You can stay home if you really don’t want to come.”

Janey stood back to let Boo in and waited while Achilles jumped down and took his turn. She wished that the two of them would just go out together, but it was like this every time.

“You still there?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I’ll be ready in half an hour.”

“Make that twenty minutes now. See you soon.”

As the phone buzzed in her ear, Janey wondered if she shouldn’t call her back. Tell her that she’d meet them there. That way she wouldn’t have to rush to get ready, and she’d be able to leave when she wanted to. She enjoyed hanging out with Frankie and Spider, but she’d rather not be dependent on them to get home.

She laughed when a text flashed up on the screen.

Frankie: Yes, we are picking you up.

No, you’re not driving yourself.

Go and get in the shower!

Achilles rubbed against her leg when he came back in, and she closed the door behind him. “Don’t think about getting snuggly on the sofa tonight, buddy. I’m going out.”

Boo let out a low woof without even lifting his head from the floor. Janey laughed. “Shut up. I don’t care what you say. I’m going because Frankie’s right; I haven’t been out for a long time.”

Achilles twitched his tail at her, and she shrugged. “Okay! Yes! I am going because I hope that Rocket’s going to be there. What do you want me to tell you?”

She didn’t need to feel so judged by a cat and a dog, so she hurried to the bathroom to get ready. It wasn’t her fault that she had a silly crush on the man. She was fairly certain there wasn’t a woman in the valley who didn’t. He was gorgeous! But she wasn’t stupid. He could have his pick of any of them. And no man in his right mind would pick her. She wasn’t hideous; she knew that. But she was nothing special, either. Rocket, on the other hand, he was something special, all right. And not just to look at; he was a good man. He might look scary, but he was a gentle soul with a kind heart. And why was she even thinking about him when all she needed to be doing was getting her ass into gear so that she’d be ready when Frankie and Spider arrived?