Billionaire Cowboy's Runaway Bride, page 1
part #1 of Billionaire Cowboys of True Love, Texas Series
Table of Contents
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Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
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BILLIONAIRE COWBOY'S RUNAWAY BRIDE
Billionaire Cowboys of True Love, Texas, Book One
HOPE MOORE
Chapter One
Tulip Jones stumbled out of her car into the torrential downpour. Dazed, she blinked against the rivulets rushing down her face.
Her face hurt.
And her cheek burned.
The world wobbled. She stumbled back on the slick grassy embankment and managed to catch herself before she slipped down the muddy bank. Where am I?
The front end of the red car was pushed in against the thick trunk of the tree. It looked as if the car had tried to climb the tree and the headlights beamed slightly upward into the limbs. Rain poured down on her as if God turned a swimming pool over on top of her. Which she probably deserved after what she’d done.
She blinked against the water again and shook her head. She realized the airbag had slammed into her face and probably saved her. She remembered hydroplaning. Remembered hitting the slick spot when the road dipped down, and the feeling of total helplessness as the car lifted on the layer of water and in slow motion turned and then shot off the road, down into the ditch and back up the other side before going airborne and then slamming into the tree.
She’d been driving too fast. In her mind, she’d heard her mama yelling, in her totally Texas twang, Slow down, Tulip Michelle Jones, before you kill us all with your crazy driving.
She ran her hands down her torso, as if making sure her mama hadn’t been right and she was actually dead and watching the wreck from up above, before she passed on to the other side.
Nope, she was alive but more than likely only by the grace of God—and an airbag with a great right hook.
She shivered in the rain as fear of what had nearly happened hit her and the knowledge that everything about the last few moments had been out of her control.
Tulip had no idea where she was. Looking down, she realized she was in her wedding dress, and then she remembered…remembered gathering up her long skirt and making a mad run for the church doors. People were watching and she was running…again. Disappointing so many people. If only she’d had the nerve to say no.
No. It was just two little letters and if she’d said the tiny word, everything would have just been so much easier. Tears pricked her eyes, the saltiness mingling with the rain.
She blinked hard into the darkness, the eerie illumination of her car lights the only light anywhere in the wet blackness.
Weak-kneed, she staggered away from the car and stepped into a mud puddle. She pitched forward, then tumbled headfirst to the slick embankment and rolled to the bottom of the watery ditch. Her head hit something hard and the last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness was no one knew where she was and, at this point, probably didn’t care. She would probably be headline news tomorrow: Runaway bride dies in ditch after ditching one of Austin’s wealthiest bachelors…what a fool. The girl had it made and threw it all away.
* * *
The radio was playing country star Denton McCoy’s latest release as Cole Tanner drove through the back-country roads, heading toward his hometown of True Love, Texas.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that Cole Tanner knew Denton, he’d have turned the radio off right in the middle of the new hit love song. But he did know Denton, and it felt wrong to turn off his friend’s song, so Cole suffered through. But the love song only made his mood all the sourer after what he’d just gone through.
He was heading home now, from attending a college friend’s wedding in Waco and had been cornered up by a reporter asking him when he planned to tie the knot with Shelly Duncan the morning talk show host, he’d met at a charity event for saving wild mustangs. He’d realized quickly that Shelly wasn’t as nice as she’d first appeared and was only involved in the charity for the good publicity it gave her. He’d also figured out that she’d been dating him for the same reason. He’d broken off their relationship a week before attending the wedding, and evidently news hadn’t gotten around. He wasn’t one to talk about his personal life.
The reporters just hadn’t ever figured that out or cared that he didn’t want them meddling in his life. He should have realized his mistake before taking out a local celebrity like Shelly—she wanted all the publicity she could get. They were doomed from the beginning.
Frustrated, he’d left the wedding reception before he could get himself into trouble with the insistent reporter he’d realized was not going to leave him alone. The last thing Cole needed was a tabloid hit piece, and if he didn’t get out of there, that’s what the reporter would write after Cole told him in no uncertain terms to back off. An article like that wouldn’t have helped him or his brothers, but most of all, it would have disrupted his buddy’s wedding.
However, on his way out the door, his buddy was tossing the garter, and it flew through the air, over the heads of the pack of single dudes who wanted to catch it, and smacked Cole upside the head. He’d caught it out of reflex.
To catch a garter was the last thing he wanted to do. Especially when he saw lights flash and knew the reporter had caught him in the act.
No telling how that was going to play out on the front page of a tabloid.
He was not ready to get married. That was one thing Cole had put on the back burner. He was busy; he had a ranch to help run and a business that kept him burning the midnight oil. Plus, after Shelly, he was just plain tired of women chasing him for what he could give them. It had been the “curse of the black oil” his little brother Jake always joked about, ever since they’d struck oil in a huge way on their land nearly five years ago. Life had changed for his family overnight, going from a hard-working ranching family to being worth billions. There were great things about it, and not-so-great things.
But he tried to focus on the good that came from it and not the scammers and users who’d crawled out from under their rocks around them at the same time. Not knowing what a person’s intentions were when they sought him out was the thing he hated most. He liked nothing about that scenario.
The rain increased, if that were even possible, and he slowed the truck to a crawl as he shoved the thoughts of the garter and reporter to the back of his mind. Rivers in the Texas Hill Country filled fast and flooded quickly here, and he had to give all of his concentration to the road. He tapped a button on the radar on his dash and saw plenty of flash flood warnings. But he knew these roads like the back of his hand, and this shortcut to his hometown of True Love only had one area that would be a major concern; he knew he could turn back if it looked unpassable. His big ole four-wheel-drive Ford truck could handle a good bit of water, so the road wasn’t as dangerous to him as it could be for a compact car.
A few minutes later, as he’d maneuvered the crazy zigzagging, rut-riddled blacktop road, he neared the area where it started downhill and flattened out before starting back up. This was the most dangerous area and sure enough, in the beam of his headlights, he could see the water swirling over the road. He also saw a glow up ahead. As he drew closer, his pulse picked up, realizing it was a car. In the darkness, the angle of the lights shining up into the dark trees did not look good. He drove into the water, pushing to drive as fast as he dared in what he thought was about six inches of water and rising fast. If there were someone in that car, he needed to get them out. His lights hit the car. It was a fancy sports car, with its front end smashed into the enormous oak tree. It was crinkled like an accordion, and the driver’s side door was open.
Slamming his truck into park, he jumped out. His boots landed in a couple inches of water here—not as deep as the dip in the road, which was good. He jogged through the water and then down into the ditch where the water hit him knee-high. He climbed the embankment and immediately saw that the car was empty. Rain pelted him, coming fast and hard, and he could not imagine that somebody was walking around out here in this.
But somebody had to have been near. The headlights were still on and hadn’t clicked off automatically or run the battery down. Standing up, he straightened his cowboy hat, which was doing very little to keep the rain off his face, and scanned the area. The water was rising, so surely whoever it was—if they weren’t hurt too bad—had made their way up onto the road. He made his way back through the watery ditch and up the slight embankment. At the rate the rain was coming down, things could get out of control here quickly. It was raining upriver, which would be where the flooding came from when it hit. His worry increased now that he knew somebody was wand
Cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, he yelled out. But the way the rain was pounding, he assumed that nobody could hear him holler. Best thing he could do was jump in his truck, drive on down the road and hope he found the car’s driver. Unless somebody else had come along right after the accident and picked them up. But this was a very unused portion of road. He put his truck in drive and drove forward, sending up a prayer for safekeeping for the driver. As he rounded a curve in the road, he saw the eerie white form of a woman in a long white dress weaving down the middle of the road. “Thank you, Lord,” he breathed out in relief, then squinted through the windshield. What was she wearing? Was that a drenched wedding dress?
The white dress clung to her slender frame and the tail of it dragged behind her in the water. He pulled up behind her, concerned when she didn’t seem to hear him. Then she weaved again, and his concern skyrocketed. Something was wrong with her. He pushed the brake, slid the gearshift into the park position, and then jumped from the vehicle into a few inches of water. He jogged through the rain. His boots splashed the water, and he was glad he didn’t slip himself because he was wearing his leather-soled dress boots that made dancing at the wedding easier than his work boots, with their thicker sole. Not that he had danced; he had gone to that wedding and gotten out as soon as possible after that reporter had hounded him.
“Ma’am, can I help you?”
She spun and immediately wobbled.
Was she hurt or drunk?
In the beams of his headlights, he could see the cut on her forehead. There was no blood, except a pink film that was there because the rain was pounding down on her. But dazed green eyes sparkled in the lights. She wobbled again and he reached for her arm. “Hold on, I’ve got you,” he said, just as her knees gave way and she started to sink toward the ground. Moving quickly, he wrapped one arm around her waist to hold her up.
She looked up at him. “I think I…need help.”
He looked down into her pretty face, and his chest squeezed. She had the sweetest face, even as pale as she was, with those big green eyes.
“Yes, ma’am, you do need help. Come on. I saw your car back there. Now let’s get you out of this crazy weather. My truck’s just right there and I’ll get you to the doctor.”
“I don’t need the doctor.” She shifted away from him.
He held on to her. “Hold on, you might fall.”
She looked confused again. “I really don’t know what I need. My head hurts.” The last couple of words slurred and then she crumbled.
Cole scooped her up into his arms, and she laid her head against his shoulder. A wave of protectiveness hit him like he had never felt in his life before. Holding her close, he stalked through the rain to his truck. Using the hand of the arm her legs were crooked across, he yanked on the handle of the passenger’s side and tilted his head at the same time to let the water that had gathered on the brim of his Stetson roll off. This would enable him not to pour it on her as he placed her in the seat. They were both soaked, but there was no reason to add more water to her situation than necessary.
Moving quickly, he got her in the seat and reached across her for the seat belt. While holding her up with one arm; he buckled her in. He yanked on the seat belt so it would lock into place, therefore holding her up because she was passed out—or at least semi-passed out.
As he leaned over her to tighten the strap, she opened her eyes. “Thank you.”
The words were a whisper and nailed him to the spot, staring into her emerald eyes. “You’re welcome. I’m just thankful—” He didn’t finish as her head drooped forward and she was out. Gently, he took her face between his hands and leaned her head back, angled so her forehead rested against the seat belt and the back of her head rested against the far corner of the seatback. She had an angelic face which he knew all too well could be deceptive but still, he wondered, as he closed the door and hurried to the other side of the truck, whether she was as sweet as she looked.
Unfortunately, his personal experience of late told him no. Looks were most often deceiving.
Chapter Two
Not knowing what else to do and very thankful that they had a doctor in the family, Cole headed toward the ranch and called his brother Austin.
“Hello.” Austin’s groggy voice came over the line.
“Hey, sorry to wake you. I know you had rounds tonight, but I’ve got a situation. It’s flooding out here and on the cut-through to True Love, I found a woman. She’d wrecked her car and was wandering down the middle of the road. She’s passed out in my truck right now and I’m heading home.”
“Glad you found her,” Austin said, fully awake at the realization this was a medical need. He immediately began asking questions about her condition, and Cole filled him in the best that he could. Finally, he’d answered enough that Austin determined that because Cole was closer to the ranch than the nearest hospital, it would be best to bring her there before going farther in the dangerous road conditions. “Hurry as best that you can—do it safely and I’ll be ready.”
“Will do.” Cole glanced at his passenger. She was still out and that worried him. And he wondered what she had been doing on that road this late at night, alone and wearing a wedding dress.
Was she a runaway bride?
He’d heard of them but so far, never come across one himself. But why else would she be alone and in that dress?
Fifteen minutes later, Cole pulled into the garage where Austin was waiting. His brother had the door opened before Cole could get out of the truck.
Austin looked at him in shock. “She’s wearing a wedding dress.” He placed his fingers against her pulse.
“Yeah, I didn’t take time to mention that part of the puzzle.” He climbed out and hurried around to where Austin was finishing taking her pulse.
“Pulse is strong.”
Cole let out a breath of relief. “That’s good to know. Here, hold the back door and I’ll bring her in.”
Austin moved out of the way and held the door.
Cole lifted his passenger into his arms, and she roused. “Where am I?”
He held her close, feeling the coldness of her skin and wanting to warm her up. “I brought you to my home to see my brother. He’s a doctor, and he’s about to check you over.”
“Thank you,” she said weakly, then rested her head against the crook of his neck.
Austin led the way to the living room, where he’d placed some blankets on the couch to help soak up some of the water as he examined her.
She leaned her head back on the pillow as he moved out of the way and let Austin take over.
His brother sat on the edge of the coffee table and smiled at her. “I’m Austin. Can you look at me and tell me your name?”
She opened her eyes and her brow crinkled. “Tulip Jones.”
Cole smiled at her name. It was an unusual but happy name.
“Well, Tulip, as I said, I’m Austin, and this is my brother Cole. He found you wandering on the road. Do you remember that?”
She nodded. Her gaze left Austin and found Cole’s eyes and instantly his pulse revved.
Austin patted her arm, bringing her focus back to him. “At least you know who you are. Since we’re not sure if you fell and hit your head or what the impact of the wreck did to you, I need to ask you several more questions and do a physical exam of you, your skull and anywhere else you tell me hurts. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Just my head hurts and my shoulder and chest.”
“Then let’s have a look in your eyes first.” Austin placed a finger above her eye and tugged upward as he shined a small flashlight into her eyes. “Now, across your ribs where your seat belt probably bruised you.”
He pulled out his stethoscope and had her breathe in and out, then gently checked out her collarbone and pressed a few places she indicated were hurting.
“I think you’re fine there. Just going to be bruised. Now let me check out your skull.”
He watched as Austin gently felt her skull. “Are you starting to feel better?” Cole asked, unable to keep silent any longer.
