Love Wears A Stetson Wyatt

  Love Wears A Stetson

  Wyatt

  Book # 1

  By Anne Marie Beck

  Published by Anne Marie Beck at Smashwords

  Copyright 08/2012 Anne Marie Beck

  I hope you enjoy my new book series “Love Wears A Stetson”. This book series is a little out of the norm for me, but my goal with this series is to show that there is more to individuals then meets the eye. Alpha males, sarcastic wise asses and head strong females are not always what they seem. It will show that beneath all the male blustering, wise cracking and outspoken voices, a warm and caring individuals lives, who with the love of the right person, can let their true self come shining through. It will reminds us, that there is .always more to a person, then what we see on the outside, and even the most bullheaded of individuals, can be changed, with the love and caring from that special someone.

  I would like to thank my family and fans for all their support without them I wouldn’t be able to do what I love.

  ~*~I love you all~*~

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Other titles

  By Anne Marie Beck

  The Preston’s series

  Book #1

  Blindsided By Love

  Book #2

  A Wedding Melody

  Book #3

  Cruising For Love

  Book #4

  Love At Lunch

  Book # 5

  Hero of My Heart

  Short Story

  A Love Like Home

  *All books are available in paperback format at Amazon.com.

  Chapter 1

  I couldn’t believe how fast everything could fall apart. A year ago, I had everything, a great career as a personal assistant, to the man that I loved, living in a huge, beautiful home. Had I really been that blind? Did I really miss the signs that should have put up a multitude of red flags? How could I have been such a huge fool?

  Just then steam started shooting out from under the hood of my used car, snapping me out of my pity party. I can’t believe this I had bought the car last week, just for this trip. A trip I really hated to make. I was going home with my tail between my legs. I had called my dad yesterday and told him I was on my way home. I could hear his suspicion in his voice, but I just couldn’t go into details on the phone. It was going to be hard enough, to let him know in person his daughter was a fool and a failure. To top it off there would be no way I wouldn’t have to deal with Wyatt. My first love, my brother’s best friend, our neighbor and someone who truly did know I even existed. The reason I moved to California.

  Now, my life was getting so much better. Not! I was ten miles from my home and my car had just decides to break down right our here in the middle of nowhere. My cell phone battery had died, leaving me with no way to call my father. Yup, this was going to be a day I would want to forget.

  Even though it was only June, the late morning sun was beating down and sweat was rolling down my forehead. It had to be a hundred degrees outside. I knew I couldn’t stay in this car. The car had quickly turned into an oven.

  Opening the door, I step out. I slammed the door shut as hard as I could. This day just keeps getting worse and worse, I swear. I walked to the front of the car and opened the hood. Steam bellowed out. I glanced down the deserted Montana road and swore. This couldn’t be happening to me right now.

  After about a half hour had passed, I finally heard a vehicle coming down the road. It was a large red Ford 4x4, with mud splatters all over it. I stepped to the side of the road and started waving my arms above my head, to get the driver attention. The truck slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road just in front of my car. I saw the door open and someone with a black Stetson stepped out of the door.

  The cowboy was tall, with broad shoulders and curly dark blonde hair, wearing tight jeans and light blue button down shirt. He walked around the end of the truck and tipped his hat up with his fingertips .He made his way over to the front of the car and gave me a brief look, before his gaze went to my car radiator.

  “Having some car trouble miss?”

  “Yes, steam started to come out from under the hood and I pulled it over to the side of the road. I don’t have any idea what’s wrong with it.”

  He lifted his head and gave me a long look. Then a smile broke across his face. He pushed his Stetson up a little higher on his forehead.

  “Kenna? Kenna Jamison is that you?”

  I looked at the cowboy carefully and my mouth dropped opened. Of all the people that live in the Butte area, I had to run across Wyatt Walker. My day just keeps getting better and better by the minute.

  “Wyatt?”

  He picked me up into his arms for a hug and swung me around. Finally he sat me back down on my feet. Holding on to my shoulder he stepped back, holding me at arm length to get a good look at me.

  “Well aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes, darlin. It’s been years, since I’ve laid eyes on you. Does your dad know you’re in the town?”

  “He knows I’m on my way, I called him yesterday. But he has no idea I’m this close.”

  “Well, your car has overheated and you can’t drive it, so let me give you a ride to your dad’s place. If you give me your keys, I’ll come back with Jesse and we’ll tow it to my mom’s place. When Josh comes back tomorrow, I’ll get him to look at it.”

  Wyatt got a real good look at my car that was completely packed with everything I owned in the world. A confused look cross his face

  “Wyatt, you don’t have to do that. Let me borrow your phone and I’ll just call dad to…….”

  “Darlin, I’m not taking no for an answer. After we get the car to the ranch, I’ll load your thing in my truck and bring it over to your place. Our parent’s ranches are right next to each other. It’s not a big deal, Kenna. Go get what you need right now out of the car and I’ll lock it up and we can go.”

  “Wyatt Walker, you are not the boss of me anymore. Let me call my dad and……aaaarrggghhh.”

  Wyatt walked over to me, put his shoulder into my stomach and hefted me over his shoulder. Then started heading for his truck.

  “Wyatt Walker, you put me down, right this minute. Do you hear me, right this minute?”

  I started pounding him on the back, which had little effect, but to amuse him. He gave a deep chuckle, before I heard a smack at the same time I felt a sharp sting on my butt.

  “Jenna Jamison, you stop it, right now or I’ll turn you over my knee and paddle your butt. Do you understand me young lady.”

  “I’m not a child anymore, Wyatt. I’m 24 years old. I’m a grown woman, now put me down.”

  “If you’re going to keep acting like a child, I’m going to treat you like a child. Now stop it.”

  Wyatt dropped me into the passenger seat, buckled me in and then closed the door. I watched him as he closed the hood walked to the driver’s door. He pulled my purse and keys out of the car, before walking around the car and locked all the doors. He walked back to the truck and climbed in behind the steering wheel.

  I sat in the other seat refusing to look at Wyatt. I looked straight forward and didn’t saying a word. How dare he treat me like this? How can this man get me so mad in just ten minutes? I’d only been home to the area for less than an hour and it was already starting again, with Wyatt. That man held a direc
t line to my temper. Just like when we were teenagers. He never saw me as a women, always a child, who needed to be told what to do and when to do it.

  The drive seemed like it took forever. I wanted to be anywhere other than sitting next to this man. At this moment in time all I wanted to do was to get out of this truck. I hated the way he treated me, like I was nothing but a bratty little sister. For years, I wanted him to notice me as more than Carson Jamison’s baby sister.

  Thinking of Carson made me smile. I couldn’t wait to see my older brother. It had been three years, since I had saw him last. We had always been close and only being two years apart in age, we basically had the same circle of friends. That made my thoughts drift back again to Wyatt, Carson’s best friend since they were old enough to walk. Wyatt was my constant tormentor and it seems he was picking up right where he left off six years ago, when I ran from my feeling for him, all the way to California.

  I focused out the window and realized we were driving down the long driveway to my father’s ranch. Wyatt stopped the truck in front of the large white ranch house that was my childhood home and I was out of the truck, before he shut the truck engine off. I made sure he knew my irritation, when I slammed the passenger door shut way more forcefully then was necessary.

  The front door opened and my dad and brother stepped out on the large wrap around porch. Carson was off the porch and in front of me, before I could make it two the steps. He lifted me up and swung me around and hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe. I had missed him so much.

  “Hey lil sis, it’s about time you come to see us. We were starting to think you had forgotten about us, or something.”

  “I missed you too, Carson, It’s good to be home.”

  “Hey Jack, Carson, Kenna’s car broke down about ten miles down the road, so I talked her into letting me drive her home.”

  I was just hugging my dad, when Wyatt gave everyone the Kenna update. I swirled on my heels, fist on my hips and walked over and faced off with Wyatt.

  “If talked me into to driving me home, translates into you picking me up, like a sack of grain and throwing me over your shoulder, then slapping my ass, then yes you talked me into it!”

  My dad and brother just stood there, both biting their lips, like they were trying not to laugh.

  “Well darlin, if you weren’t so pig headed and stubborn, about the whole idea of me driving you home, then I wouldn’t have had to do that, would I? I swear you’re like your ten years old, Kenna.”

  “Pig headed and stubborn, is that what you just said? You are the bossiest, most arrogant person I have ever known, Wyatt Walker. All I asked for was to borrow your phone to call my dad, but no, you couldn’t do that could you?”

  I overheard my brother, speak to my dad.

  “Well dad, it seems some things never do change huh?”

  “Yeah son, I feel like we just went thru a time warp. We’ve gone back about six years. Hopefully soon, they’ll figure out what the true problem is between the two of them.”

  Chapter 2

  “Carson you want to follow me back to Kenna’s car and help me tow it back to our place. I’ll Josh take a look at it, after he gets back from Helena tomorrow.”

  “No, you won’t. I can deal with my own car, thank you very much, Wyatt.”

  I sighed and turned my gaze to the heaven. Please give me the strength to deal with this girl. Why was this girl, always fighting me? I swear, no matter what it is, she has to fight me about it. But she was right about one thing, I thought about having to throw her over my shoulder and smacking her butt. She wasn’t a girl anymore. She had grown up. The fact is she had grown up in all the right places. I chastised myself for the direction my thoughts were wondering. She’s your best friend’s sister, you can’t go there.

  “Kenna, stop being like that to Wyatt, He is only trying to help you, is all. Give him a break.”

  “Oh it figures Carson, you always did take his side. Dad, tell them I’m quite capable of taking care of myself.”

  “Sweetheart, you’re being unreasonable, let the boys take care of your car, for you. Why don’t you come in the house with me, and we can talk, while they take care of things for you.”

  “Grrrrrr! Unbelievable!”

  I just couldn’t believe my ears, Kenna actual growled at us, then stomped her right foot and ran up the stairs. I could hear her muttering to herself about bossy, arrogant men. The slamming of the screen door on the front door got her point across loud and clear.

  I took my Stetson off and ran my fingers through my hair and then replaced it back on my head. I looked at Carson and Jenna’s father, Jack just shook my head in frustration. Jack stepped over to me and placed a hand upon my shoulder in a reassuring manner.

  “Wyatt, I think Kenna is going through a little rough patch right now. We’re all going to have to be a patient with her right now.”

  “Jack, she’s been like this with me for thirteen years. You know what; I don’t think Kenna has come home for just a visit. I think she is moving back home, for good. Her car is loaded down pretty good, with what looks like all of her things. Did something happen? I thought she was happy living in California?”

  “I’m not sure. Carson did Kenna say anything to you, about what’s going on?”

  “Yeah, she told me some of what was happening. To make a long story short, her whole life has fallen apart, from what she’s said. You know her boss Mason, the guy she had moved in with last year. Well, six months ago, she found out the hard way, that he was still married and not divorced like he said. He had no intention of divorcing his wife. She came home one night and caught them in bed together. I guess they decided to give their marriage another go, without letting Kenna know about it. Kenna quit her job, because she couldn’t stand to face him again and moved out of his house that night. She has tried to find a new job, but the job market there, really sucks right now. She’s gone through most her savings.”

  I listened to Carson and my heart went out for Kenna. She had been through so much and I was being all bossy with her. But with Kenna, for some reason since she turned the age of fourteen, it didn’t take much, for me to piss her off. To this day I still don’t have any idea why she’s so angry with me all the time. I’ve tried to be her friend/ adopted big brother, but for some reason that gig wasn’t working and hadn’t worked for years.

  “Hey, Bro, snap out of it. You ready to go get Kenna’s car.?”

  “What? Oh yeah the car. We’ll need to stop by my house to pick up the tow strap.”

  “Well let’s get a move on then. We’re wasting day light.”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay, you boys be careful towing her car back. I’m going to go into the house and try to calm her down some.”

  I watched Jack climb the stairs, take a deep breath like he was about ready to face a firing squad, open the squeaky screen door and walk into his house.

  ~*~*~*~

  Twenty minutes later, we we’re securing the tow strap to the front of Kenna’s car. I couldn’t believe she had driven this old hunk of junk of a station wagon, all the way from California to Montana. Hopefully it was only a blown radiator hose and not something serious like a cracked head or blown head gasket.

  “Wyatt, I don’t think she could have gotten much more in this car do you, let me put a few of these boxes in the back of you trucks, so I can somewhat see out the back window. I guess she didn’t want to see where she had been or something.”

  After loading about a dozen boxes into the back of my truck, we were on our way. It was slow going, but a half an hour later we were at my mom’s place, parking the car next to the barn out back. We were finally finished unloading the car into the back of my truck. I leaned on the side of the truck, took off my Stetson, smack it on my leg. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, before I returned the hat to my head. I looked Carson in the eye, before I addressed him.

  Carson can I ask you something, why does Kenna hate me so much? I’ve tried my best to
be a good friend and second big brother to her. I’ve done my damnedest to look out for her, but all she does is fight me every step of the way. I’m at a total loss her bro, when it comes to figuring out your sister.”

  Carson had the nerve to laugh at me. Soon he cleared his throat and collected himself to answer me.

  “Wyatt, you’re kidding right? You really have no clue do you?”

  “Damn it Carson, I wouldn’t have asked, if I already knew the answer.”

  Carson cleared his throat again and looked at me with a duh look.

  “Wyatt, I never thought you were dense, but really, I’m beginning to wonder about you. I mean seriously bro. How could you not notice, that girl fighting, literally to get you to notice her as a women and not a child. All she has ever wanted was for you to just see her and not your best friend’s baby sister. She has had a crush on you since she was about thirteen years old. Even when she was younger, she did everything she could to get your attention, but all you saw when you looked at her was that snot nosed brat, wearing pig tails and tagging along with us to make our life crazy.”

  “What? No way!”

  “Way, bro.”

  I just stood there staring at Carson. How could I have missed all the signs? The thought of Kenna in any other way than my best friend sister kid sister, was never an option to me. I would have never thought of breaking that unwritten rule, of friends don’t mess with their Best friends sisters.

  “Well that was then, Carson. What’s her problem with me now? I mean today, I was just helping her out and she went off on me”

  Carson took off his Stetson and smacked me across the shoulder with it. I glared at him.

  “What the hell did you do that for?”

  “Wake up Wyatt, damn. It’s a clear case of same crap different day.”

  “No it can’t be.”

  “Well, you know, there is a way you could check and see if I’m right. You could start treating her like woman that she is and not my kid sister. You could even ask her to go out to dinner or something.”